microstrategy web for · pdf fileapplication development, microstrategy intelligent cubes, the...

MICROSTRATEGY WEB FOR PROFESSIONALS

Course GuideVersion: WEBPRO-901-Jan11-CG

© 2000–2011 MicroStrategy Incorporated. All rights reserved.

This Course (course and course materials) and any Software are provided “as is” and without express or limited warranty of any kind by either MicroStrategy Incorporated (“MicroStrategy”) or anyone who has been involved in the creation, production, or distribution of the Course or Software, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the Course and Software is with you. Should the Course or Software prove defective, you (and not MicroStrategy or anyone else who has been involved with the creation, production, or distribution of the Course or Software) assume the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, or correction.

In no event will MicroStrategy or any other person involved with the creation, production, or distribution of the Course or Software be liable to you on account of any claim for damage, including any lost profits, lost savings, or other special, incidental, consequential, or exemplary damages, including but not limited to any damages assessed against or paid by you to any third party, arising from the use, inability to use, quality, or performance of such Course and Software, even if MicroStrategy or any such other person or entity has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for the claim by any other party. In addition, MicroStrategy or any other person involved in the creation, production, or distribution of the Course and Software shall not be liable for any claim by you or any other party for damages arising from the use, inability to use, quality, or performance of such Course and Software, based upon principles of contract warranty, negligence, strict liability for the negligence of indemnity or contribution, the failure of any remedy to achieve its essential purpose, or otherwise.

The Course and the Software are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by MicroStrategy. MicroStrategy reserves the right to make periodic modifications to the Course or the Software without obligation to notify any person or entity of such revision. Copying, duplicating, selling, or otherwise distributing any part of the Course or Software without prior written consent of an authorized representative of MicroStrategy are prohibited.

U.S. Government Restricted Rights. It is acknowledged that the Course and Software were developed at private expense, that no part is public domain, and that the Course and Software are Commercial Computer Software and/or Commmercial Computer Software Documentation provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS under Federal Acquisition Regulations and agency supplements to them. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFAR 252.227-7013 et. seq. or subparagraphs (c)(1) and (2) of the Commercial Computer Software—Restricted Rights at FAR 52.227-19, as applicable. The Contractor is MicroStrategy, 1850 Towers Crescent Plaza, Vienna, Virginia 22182. Rights are reserved under copyright laws of the United States with respect to unpublished portions of the Software.

Trademark Information

MicroStrategy, MicroStrategy 6, MicroStrategy 7, MicroStrategy 7i, MicroStrategy 7i Evaluation Edition, MicroStrategy 7i Olap Services, MicroStrategy 8, MicroStrategy 9, MicroStrategy Distribution Services, MicroStrategy MultiSource Option, MicroStrategy Command Manager, MicroStrategy Enterprise Manager, MicroStrategy Object Manager, MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, MicroStrategy Power User, MicroStrategy Analyst, MicroStrategy Consumer, MicroStrategy Email Delivery, MicroStrategy BI Author, MicroStrategy BI Modeler, MicroStrategy Evaluation Edition, MicroStrategy Administrator, MicroStrategy Agent, MicroStrategy Architect, MicroStrategy BI Developer Kit, MicroStrategy Broadcast Server, MicroStrategy Broadcaster, MicroStrategy Broadcaster Server, MicroStrategy Business Intelligence Platform, MicroStrategy Consulting, MicroStrategy CRM Applications, MicroStrategy Customer Analyzer, MicroStrategy Desktop, MicroStrategy Desktop Analyst, MicroStrategy Desktop Designer, MicroStrategy eCRM 7, MicroStrategy Education, MicroStrategy eTrainer, MicroStrategy Executive, MicroStrategy Infocenter, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server Universal Edition, MicroStrategy MDX Adapter, MicroStrategy Narrowcast Server, MicroStrategy Objects, MicroStrategy OLAP Provider, MicroStrategy SDK, MicroStrategy Support, MicroStrategy Telecaster, MicroStrategy Transactor, MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Web Business Analyzer, MicroStrategy World, Application Development and Sophisticated Analysis, Best In Business Intelligence, Centralized Application Management, Information Like Water, Intelligence Through Every Phone, Intelligence To Every Decision Maker, Intelligent E-Business, Personalized Intelligence Portal, Query Tone, Rapid

Application Development, MicroStrategy Intelligent Cubes, The Foundation For Intelligent E-Business, The Integrated Business Intelligence Platform Built For The Enterprise, The Platform For Intelligent E-Business, The Scalable Business Intelligence Platform Built For The Internet, Industrial-Strength Business Intelligence, Office Intelligence, MicroStrategy Office, MicroStrategy Report Services, MicroStrategy Web MMT, MicroStrategy Web Services, Pixel Perfect, Pixel-Perfect, MicroStrategy Mobile, MicroStrategy Integrity Manager and MicroStrategy Data Mining Services are all registered trademarks or trademarks of MicroStrategy Incorporated.

All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. Specifications subject to change without notice. MicroStrategy is not responsible for errors or omissions. MicroStrategy makes no warranties or commitments concerning the availability of future products or versions that may be planned or under development.

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.

How to Contact Us

MicroStrategy Education Services1850 Towers Crescent Plaza

Vienna, VA 22182Phone: 877.232.7168

Fax: 703.848.8602E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.microstrategy.com/education

MicroStrategy Incorporated1850 Towers Crescent Plaza

Vienna, VA 22182Phone: 703.848.8600

Fax: 703.848.8610E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.microstrategy.com

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface Course Description.................................................................... 11Who Should Take This Course.............................................. 12Course Prerequisites ............................................................. 12Follow-Up Courses ................................................................ 12Course Objectives ................................................................. 13

About the Course Materials ......................................................... 14Content Descriptions ............................................................. 14Learning Objectives ............................................................... 14Lessons ................................................................................. 15Opportunities for Practice ...................................................... 15Typographical Standards....................................................... 15MicroStrategy Courses .......................................................... 18Core Courses......................................................................... 18

1. Introduction to MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

Lesson Description ................................................................... 19Lesson Objectives ................................................................. 20

Introduction to MicroStrategy Web .............................................. 21

Project Home Page...................................................................... 28Lesson Summary......................................................................... 31

2. Reports in MicroStrategy Web


What Is a Report?........................................................................ 35

Creating Reports.......................................................................... 39

Design Mode................................................................................ 42Using the Object Browser ...................................................... 42

Table Of Contents MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

6 ©2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Using the Template Definition Window.................................. 47Using the Report Filter Definition Window ............................. 47

Predesigned Report..................................................................... 48

Blank Report ................................................................................ 54Creating a Report from an MDX Source................................ 59

Saving Templates and Report Filters .......................................... 60Combining Templates and Report Filters .............................. 61

Advanced Save Options .............................................................. 63Choosing Shortcut or Copy.................................................... 63

Exercises ..................................................................................... 66Create a Report Using a Predesigned Report ....................... 66Create a Report Using the Blank Report Option.................... 69Create a Report with a Report Filter ...................................... 72Create a Template Object...................................................... 74Create a Report Filter Object ................................................. 77Use an Existing Template & Report Filter to Create a Report78

Lesson Summary......................................................................... 82

3. Filters in MicroStrategy Web


Creating Report Filters................................................................. 85Using the Filter Editor ............................................................ 86Creating an Attribute Form Qualification................................ 87Creating an Attribute Element List Qualification .................... 89Creating a Date Qualification ................................................. 91Creating a Metric Value Qualification..................................... 93Creating a Filter Qualification................................................. 95Creating a Report As Filter Qualification................................ 97Using a Report Filter Object in a Report ................................ 98

Set Operators .............................................................................. 99

Exercises ................................................................................... 104Add an Additional Filter Condition to an Existing Report ..... 104Create an Attribute Element List Report Filter ..................... 106Create a Metric Value Report Filter and Use It on a Report 109Create a Report with Filter Qualifications ............................ 112Create a Report As Filter Qualification and Use It on a Report .116

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 121

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Table Of Contents


4. Prompts in MicroStrategy Web

Lesson Description ................................................................. 123Lesson Objectives ............................................................... 124

The Prompt Editor...................................................................... 125

Creating Prompts....................................................................... 130Creating a Hierarchy Qualification Prompt........................... 130Creating an Attribute Qualification Prompt........................... 131Creating an Attribute Element List Prompt........................... 133Creating a Metric Qualification Prompt ................................ 134Creating an Object Prompt .................................................. 135Creating a Value Prompt ..................................................... 137

Adding Prompts to a Report ...................................................... 139Using Filter Definition Prompts ............................................ 139Using Object Prompts .......................................................... 140Using Value Prompts ........................................................... 140

Advanced Save Options ............................................................ 143

Exercises ................................................................................... 145Attribute Qualification Prompts ............................................ 145Value Prompts ..................................................................... 147

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 150

5. Advanced Report Manipulation in MicroStrategy Web


All Objects Pane ........................................................................ 153Adding and Removing Objects to and from a Report .......... 154

Disabling Drilling on Reports ..................................................... 158

Report Details Properties........................................................... 160

Linking in Reports ...................................................................... 166

Exercises ................................................................................... 170Advanced Report Design..................................................... 170

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 176

6. Advanced Report Formatting in MicroStrategy Web


Advanced Grid Formatting......................................................... 179Using the Formatting Toolbar .............................................. 179Using the Advanced Formatting Option ............................... 180Using the Advanced Thresholds Editor................................ 185Resizing Columns and Rows............................................... 189Removing the Metrics Column............................................. 191



Displaying Vertical Text ....................................................... 193

Advanced Graph Formatting...................................................... 195Using Graph Design Mode................................................... 195Using the Graph Toolbar ..................................................... 196Using the Graph Option ....................................................... 197Using the Format Category.................................................. 203

Exercises ................................................................................... 211Advanced Thresholds Editor................................................ 211Advanced Grid Formatting ................................................... 213Graph Design Mode............................................................. 216Advanced Graph Formatting................................................ 217

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 222

7. OLAP Services in MicroStrategy Web


Transformation Shortcut Metrics................................................ 225

Report Creation from Intelligent Cubes ..................................... 228

Derived Elements ...................................................................... 230

Exercises ................................................................................... 232Creating Reports from Intelligent Cubes.............................. 232Saving and Reusing Derived Elements ............................... 234

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 237

8. Advanced Distribution Services


Subscribing Other Users and Contacts ..................................... 241

Exercises ................................................................................... 245Subscribing Another User to a History List Subscription ..... 245

Lesson Summary....................................................................... 248

A. MicroStrategy Tutorial The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model ..................................... 250Geography Hierarchy........................................................... 252Customers Hierarchy ........................................................... 253Time Hierarchy..................................................................... 254Products Hierarchy .............................................................. 255

The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema .......................................... 255Geography Schema............................................................. 259Customers Schema ............................................................. 260Time Schema....................................................................... 261

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Table Of Contents


Products Schema ................................................................ 262Fact Tables Schema............................................................ 263Partition Mapping Table ....................................................... 263

B. Web Professional Privileges

Privilege Availability ................................................................... 266

Web Professional Privileges ...................................................... 267

Common Privileges.................................................................... 269

Distribution Services Privileges ................................................. 270

User Privileges........................................................................... 271User Preferences................................................................. 271

C. What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 Web For Professionals

Lesson Description ................................................................. 297

What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2............................................ 298Creating Custom Group....................................................... 298Creating Metric-to-Metric Qualification Filters...................... 299Creating Attribute-to-Attribute Qualification Filters............... 301

Index ......................................................................................... 303


PREFACE

Course Description

This course addresses the advanced features available to Web Professionals in MicroStrategy Web. Students will learn how to create reports, filters, and prompts. Additionally, participants will learn about various advanced report manipulations and formatting features. Students will also see advanced OLAP Services functionality. Finally, participants will use the advanced Distribution Services features available to Web Professionals.

Preface MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

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

Who Should Take This Course

This course is designed for:

• Web Report Developers

• Desktop Developers

Course Prerequisites

Before starting this course, you should know all topics covered in the following courses:

• All topics covered in MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts

Follow-Up Courses

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

• MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials

• Report Services: Document Essentials

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Preface

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Course Objectives 13

Course Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe the three versions of MicroStrategy Web and describe the project home page options available to Web Professionals. (Page 20)

• Describe the components of a report, the options for creating reports, and the components of the Design Mode interface. Create and save reports using the predesigned report and the blank report options. Create template and report filter objects using the Report Editor and describe the difference between a shortcut and a copy. (Page 34)

• Describe and create report filter objects using the Filter Editor and use set operators to precisely define your filter criteria. (Page 84)

• Describe and use the Prompt Editor. Create prompts and add them to reports. Save prompted reports. (Page 124)

• Use the All Objects pane to add objects to a report, disable drilling on a report, configure the Report Details properties, and create links to connect to other reports and documents. (Page 152)

• Apply advanced formatting to grid and graph reports. (Page 178)

• Describe and use the advanced OLAP Services features in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 224)

• Use the advanced Distribution Services features available to Web Professionals. (Page 240)


14 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.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. About the Course Materials 15

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.

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.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. About the Course Materials 17

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

— 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 thelatest education offerings.


1INTRODUCTION TO MICROSTRATEGY WEB FOR PROFESSIONALS

Lesson Description

This lesson gives a high-level overview of MicroStrategy Web from the perspective of a Web Professional. It outlines the three versions of MicroStrategy Web and points out the additional options available to Web Professionals.

Introduction to MicroStrategy Web for Professionals MicroStrategy Web for Professionals1

20 Lesson Objectives © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Lesson Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the three versions of MicroStrategy Web and describe the project home page options available to Web Professionals.

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

• Describe the three versions of MicroStrategy Web. (Page 21)

• Describe the project home page options available to Web Professionals. (Page 28)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Introduction to MicroStrategy Web for Professionals 1

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Introduction to MicroStrategy Web 21

Introduction to MicroStrategy Web

After completing this topic, you will be able to:

Describe the three versions of MicroStrategy Web.

MicroStrategy Web is a highly interactive, intuitive, and simple-to-use interface for reporting, analysis, and continuous business monitoring. With a look and feel that is exceptionally crisp and clean, MicroStrategy Web has been designed specifically to fit the needs of business users who find it intuitive and simple to use. You will immediately recognize tools, techniques, and formats familiar to any user of the Internet or common Microsoft Windows® applications.

MicroStrategy Web is offered in three versions to meet the full range of business user reporting needs—from high-level scorecards and dashboards to advanced reporting and analysis. The three versions of MicroStrategy Web are described below:

• Web Reporter—Business users are able to view all types of reports and scorecards and also personalize reports, print, drill, sort, choose grid or graph format, schedule, or immediately send reports via e-mail or to a file server or a printer.

• Web Analyst—Business analysts have all the functionality of business users, plus the ability to drill anywhere, edit totals, pivot reports, add fields to or remove fields from a report, create derived metrics, and create reports or ad hoc queries.

• Web Professional—Report developers and advanced business users have access to all the functionality of business analysts, plus the ability to design scorecards, dashboards, and operational reports in design mode or WYSIWYG view mode. These users also have advanced formatting capabilities as well as the ability to perform calculations across multiple data sources.


22 Introduction to MicroStrategy Web © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The topics discussed in the remaining lessons of this course require the Web Professional version of MicroStrategy Web.

The following table is a comprehensive list of the features available in each version of MicroStrategy Web. As you can see, each subsequent version of MicroStrategy Web inherits features from the previous version in addition to features specific to its version. Take special note of the features available only in Web Professional, as these will be the focus of this course.

MicroStrategy Web Version Comparison

MicroStrategy Web FeaturesWeb Reporter

Web Analyst

Web Professional

Browse and view reports documents 1

Wizard driven report creation using prompts

Print and print preview

Incremental fetch of large data sets

Incremental fetch of element browsing

Personalize reports and documents via prompt answers

Save personal prompt answers for reuse

Search for reports and documents

User, data, and object level security

Simple sorting and multiple column sorting (3 key)

Subscribe to a report or document to be delivered to your History List

Subscribe to a report or document to be delivered to your e-mail, printer or file server 2

Subscribe to a report or document to be delivered to your mobile device 4

Personalize subscriptions by answering prompt questions



Create e-mail addresses, print and file locations for report and document delivery 2

E-mail reports and documents immediately 2

Change view mode between grid and graph

Format grid using a choice of built-in styles

Re-execute report against warehouse

Drill down on grid

Drill down on graph

Drill within an Intelligent Cube™ 3

Investigative workflow (drill to template)

Run link from one report to another report or document

Multiple dated versions of same subscribed report available in history list

Context sensitive right mouse click menus

View reports and documents in PDF

Use full screen mode for report viewing and interactivity

Navigate documents using grouping list box

Sort documents based upon groupings and/or the detail section

Run and interact with documents rendered in Adobe® Flash

Create shortcuts to objects

Undo and redo changes in reports and documents

Toggle thresholds in reports



Web Analyst

Web Professional



Export documents to Microsoft® Excel

Export reports to Microsoft Excel, HTML or text formats

Simultaneously execute and retrieve results for multiple reports and documents

Add and view notes associated with reports and documents

Edit notes associated with reports and documents

Add reports to history list for later access

View report details including attribute, metric, and filter details

View SQL or MDX generated for a report

Drill anywhere

Drill on metrics

Investigative workflow (custom drill paths)

Export very large files in CSV format 2

Change Graph Type, Categories, and Series

Page by manipulation (i.e. move attribute to page by axis)

Pivot items between rows and columns

Filter on selection

Lock report row and column headers

Save to “My Reports” folder

Publish user created reports in Shared Reports

Rename report objects

Scheduled report or document delivery to file server 2



Web Analyst

Web Professional



Create new folder

Copy, move, and rename objects

Rename report metrics using aliases

Delete reports, templates, and filters

Add or modify report subtotals

Create derived metric calculations on a grid 3

Add shortcut metrics within a grid report 3

Apply view filters to reports 3

Use Quick Thresholds and the Visual Threshold Editor

Create alerts based on thresholds 2

Modify reports within predefined analysis area based on Intelligent Cube™ 3

Ad hoc report creation within predefined analysis area based on Intelligent Cube 3

Execute Data Mart reports

Define derived elements on grid reports and grids in documents 3

Choose attribute form to display in report

Design document from a template 5

Build pre-formatted document templates for use by other users

Build reports from scratch in Design Mode

Create reports accessing SAP BW InfoCubes and QueryCubes

Create report based on Microsoft© Analysis Services or Hyperion© Essbase© cubes



Web Analyst

Web Professional



Save sets of derived elements for reuse in multiple reports 3

Access “All Objects” tab in Object Browser for report creation and modification

Use the Data Explorer

Create or edit documents in Design Mode

Create or edit documents in WYSIWYG Mode

Set the available default run mode and export modes for reports and documents

Create HTML containers on a document

Create and modify report templates

Create and modify report filters

Subscribe other users to receive a report or document via History List

Subscribe other users to receive a report or document via e-mail, a printer, or from a file location 2

Subscribe other users to receive a report or document on a mobile device 4

Design personal Intelligent Cubes in Design Mode 3

Format and modify graph titles and axes

Row, column, and cell level formatting for grid reports

Adjust report row height and column widths

Use the Advanced Threshold Editor

Create a calculated field in a document

Toggle conditional formatting in documents

Publish Intelligent Cubes™ 3



Web Analyst

Web Professional



The true power of MicroStrategy Web is fully attained in Web Professional, yet as a MicroStrategy Web report designer, you access all of the MicroStrategy Web features through the same, intuitive Web-based interface as a standard business user.

Create report using Intelligent Cube™ as data source 3

Create and modify prompts using the Prompt Editor

Create and edit links and drill options 1 Throughout the version comparison checklist, "Documents" refer to precisely formatted enterprise reports

that require MicroStrategy Report Services.

2 Requires MicroStrategy Distribution Services

3 Requires MicroStrategy OLAP Services

4 Requires MicroStrategy Mobile

5 Web Analysts require MicroStrategy OLAP Services, and this design capability is limited to adding

attributes and metrics from existing datasets to pre-configured grids and graphs within the document.



Web Analyst

Web Professional


28 Project Home Page © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Project Home Page


Describe the project home page options available to Web Professionals.

Upon logging in to a MicroStrategy project as a Web Professional, you are presented with several options. Most of the options are available across all versions of MicroStrategy Web, but a few options are available only to MicroStrategy Professionals.

Project Home Page for MicroStrategy Web Professional

All of the options on the project home page are briefly described below:

• Shared Reports—The Shared Reports location contains reports that are shared with other users who have access to the MicroStrategy project. It displays the contents of the Reports subfolder of the Public Objects folder in MicroStrategy Desktop.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Project Home

• My Reports—The My Reports location is the default save location for reports and objects you create while working in MicroStrategy Web. Any report or object in the My Reports folder is only accessible with your user name. It displays the contents of the My Reports subfolder of the Personal Objects folder in MicroStrategy Desktop.

If a user is logged in to MicroStrategy Web as a guest, the My Reports option does not appear.

• History List—The History List displays messages that, when clicked, immediately display the reports and documents that you subscribe to or that you manually send to the History List.

• My Subscriptions—My Subscriptions lists the reports and documents to which you are subscribed. You can also modify your subscriptions and unsubscribe yourself from reports and documents using this option.

For information on using the History List and subscribing to reports and documents, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course.

• Create Report—The Create Report option enables you to create new reports in MicroStrategy Web. Web Professionals can create reports from scratch using the Blank Report option combined with the Design Mode view.

If a user is logged in as a Web Reporter, the Create Report option does not appear. Furthermore, the options to create new reports will vary depending on whether you are logged in as a Web Analyst or Web Professional.

For information on the options to create new reports in Web Analyst, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course. For more information on creating new reports in Web Professional, see the “Reports in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 33.

• Create Document—The Create Document option enables you to create new documents in MicroStrategy Web.


30 Project Home Page © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

If a user is working in Web Reporter or Web Analyst, the Create Document option does not appear.

Creating documents in Design View is beyond the scope of this course. For information on creating documents, see the MicroStrategy Report Services: Document Essentials course.

• Create Prompt—The Create Prompt option enables you to create your own prompts in MicroStrategy Web. A prompt is a question the system presents to a user when a report is executed. How the user answers the question determines what data is displayed on the report when it is returned from the data source. As a report designer, you can include one or more prompts in any report.

If a user is working in Web Reporter or Web Analyst, the Create Prompt option does not appear.

For more information on creating new prompts in Web Professional, see the “Prompts in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 123.

• Create Filter—The Create Filter option enables you to create your own filters in MicroStrategy Web. A filter screens data in your data source to determine whether the data should be included in or excluded from the calculations of the report results. As a report designer, you can include one or more prompts in any report.

If a user is working in Web Reporter or Web Analyst, the Create Filter option does not appear.

For more information on creating new prompts in Web Professional, see the “Filters in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 83.

• Preferences—The Preferences option allows you to change your default preferences for report display, exporting, printing, and so forth.

For information on modifying your default preferences, see “User Preferences” starting on page 271.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Lesson Summary 31

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned the following:

• The three versions of MicroStrategy Web:

– Web Reporter

– Web Analyst

– Web Professional

• The additional options available to a Web Professional on the project home page.


2REPORTS IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

This lesson reviews the different methods for creating new reports in MicroStrategy Web. You will then learn how to create reports using predesigned reports and the Blank Report option in conjunction with Design Mode. You will also create template and report filter objects using the Report Editor and learn about the advanced save options.

Reports in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals2


Lesson Objectives


Describe the components of a report, the options for creating reports, and the components of the Design Mode interface. Create and save reports using the predesigned report and the blank report options. Create template and report filter objects using the Report Editor and describe the difference between a shortcut and a copy.


• Describe the components that make up a report. (Page 35)

• Describe the three options for creating reports in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 39)

• Describe the three components of the Design Mode interface used to create reports in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 42)

• Create and save a report using the predesigned report option. (Page 48)

• Create and save a report using the blank report option. (Page 54)

• Save template objects and report filter objects using the Report Editor. Combine templates and report filters to create new reports. (Page 60)

• Describe the difference between shortcut and copy, and select the appropriate save options when creating reports from existing template and report filter objects. (Page 63)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Reports in MicroStrategy Web 2

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Report? 35

What Is a Report?


Describe 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 MicroStrategy Web report is often just a starting point for further business intelligence investigations.

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 2008.

For more information on filters, see the “Filters in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 83.


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

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

Report

A template specifies what information to retrieve from the data warehouse and how this information is 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.

Creating report views requires MicroStrategy OLAP Services, an add-on application.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What Is a Report? 37

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. Although 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 is displayed in the report results. Templates may contain any of the following objects, in any combination:

• Attribute—Provides context in which to report on and analyze business facts or calculations. While knowing your company’s total sales is useful, knowing where and when the sales took place provides the kind of analytical depth users require on a daily basis.

• Metric—Represents business measures and key performance indicators. Metrics are the calculations performed on data stored in your database, the results of which are displayed on a report. All the metrics are grouped together and bound to one axis (the rows or the columns).

For more information on metrics, see the MicroStrategy Desktop: Reporting Essentials course.

• Object Prompt—Enables users to define at run time which objects will appear on the template. A prompt is a question the system presents to a user during report execution. How the user answers the question determines what data is displayed on the report when it is returned from your data source.


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

• Consolidation—Enables you to group attribute elements in new ways without changing the metadata and warehouse definitions. You can use consolidations on a report just like regular attributes. Consolidations allow you to qualify a report on a row-by-row basis.

For more information on consolidations, see the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

• Custom Group—Is made up of an ordered collection of components called custom group elements. Each element contains a set of filtering or banding qualifications. Qualifications are the actual conditions that must be met for data to be included in the custom group element. Examples include “Region = Northeast” or “Revenue > $1 million.”

For more information on custom groups, see the MicroStrategy Desktop: Advanced Reporting course.

The Report Filter

A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in the report results. You can create the following types of report filters:

• Attribute Form qualification

• Attribute Element List qualification

• Date qualification

• Metric Value qualification

• Filter qualification

• Report As Filter qualification

For more information on filters, see the “Filters in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 83.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating Reports 39

Creating Reports


Describe the three options for creating reports in MicroStrategy Web.

The options for creating new reports in MicroStrategy Web are presented to you upon clicking the Create Report option on the project home page or the MicroStrategy Web toolbar.

Project Home Page for MicroStrategy Web Professional


40 Creating Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The image below is what you see upon clicking Create Report.

Create Report Options

You can also get to the Create Report page after running a report. In the report results page, on the Tools menu, select New.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating Reports 41

There are three options for creating new reports in MicroStrategy Web, and in Web Professional, all three methods are available to you:

• Prompted Predesigned Report—Enables you to create a report by answering a series of prompts that guide you through the report creation process. The two prompted reports that are automatically created for all MicroStrategy projects are the Report Wizard and the Report Builder.

For more information on creating reports with the Report Wizard and the Report Builder, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course.

• Predesigned Report—Enables you to create a report based on a partially defined template and report filter.

Predesigned reports are available in both Web Analyst and Web Professional.

MicroStrategy OLAP Services is required to use predesigned reports.

• Blank Report—Enables you to create a report by defining the template and the report filter entirely from scratch. You also have the ability to create a report from an Intelligent Cube or MDX source.

The Blank Report option is only available in Web Professional.

MicroStrategy OLAP Services is required to create a report from an Intelligent Cube.


42 Design Mode © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Design Mode


Describe the three components of the Design Mode interface used to create reports in MicroStrategy Web.

Design Mode is a powerful feature that allows the report developer to create or modify a report through an intuitive interface that includes the Object Browser, the template definition window, and the filter definition window.

Report in Design Mode

Using the Object Browser

The Object Browser enables you to view the objects included in the report and to navigate through the project to locate objects you wish to add to the report. You also access Notes and Related Reports from the Object Browser.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Design Mode 43

Report Objects

The Report Objects pane displays the objects that are currently part of the report definition. If the object appears in grey text, the object is already on the template and displays in the initial report results. If the object appears in black text, the object is retrieved from the data warehouse when the report is run, but does not display in the report results automatically.

Report Objects

The Report Objects pane is only available with MicroStrategy OLAP Services.



All Objects

The All Objects pane enables you to navigate through the project to select and add additional objects to the report.

All Objects



Notes

The Notes pane allows users to actively collaborate online with other Web users. You can think of notes as annotations or comments attached to a report or a document.

Notes



Related Reports

The Related Reports pane displays links to reports and documents that are stored in the same folder as the report you are currently viewing.

Related Reports



Using the Template Definition Window

The template definition window allows you to define the report layout by adding objects to the rows, the columns, or the page-by axis from the Report Objects pane or the All Objects pane.

Template Definition Window

Using the Report Filter Definition Window

The report filter definition window allows you to specify the conditions the data must meet in order for it to be retrieved from the data warehouse.

Report Filter Definition Window


48 Predesigned Report © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Predesigned Report


Create and save a report using the predesigned report option.

A predesigned report is a partially defined report that serves as a foundation for creating new reports. It may already have objects in the Report Objects pane or on the template, and it may already have report filter conditions defined. Using this predesigned report, a report designer can quickly build new reports based on his or her reporting needs.

The various predesigned report options available in MicroStrategy Web are created as report object templates with MicroStrategy Desktop. With MicroStrategy OLAP Services, the report developer in MicroStrategy Desktop can make objects available in the Report Objects pane. The report designer in MicroStrategy Web can then select from these Report Objects to define a new report.

As you know, all objects in the Report Objects pane, even if they do not appear on the template, are retrieved from the data warehouse when the report is run.

To create a report using a predesigned report:

1 On the project home page or the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Create Report.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Predesigned Report 49

2 On the Create Report page, ensure the View report in Design Mode check box is selected.

View Report in Design Mode Check Box

3 Click a predesigned report.

In Design Mode, in the Object Browser, the Report Objects pane displays a predefined collection of objects. You can add any of these objects to the template definition window.

4 To add objects from the Report Objects pane to the template definition window, do one of the following:

Double-click the object to add it to the template.

Attributes are added to the rows, and metrics are added to the columns. Use data pivoting to rearrange the objects as you see fit.

OR

Right-click the object, and select Add to Grid to add it to the template.

Attributes are added to the rows, and metrics are added to the columns. Use data pivoting to rearrange the objects as you see fit.

OR



Drag and drop the object from the Report Objects pane to the desired position in the template definition window.

– To drag and drop an attribute into the rows of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop objects here to add rows until you see a vertical yellow line.

Drag and Drop an Attribute into the Rows

– To drag and drop an attribute into the columns of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop objects here to add columns until you see a horizontal yellow line.

Drag and Drop an Attribute into the Columns



– To drag and drop a metric into the columns of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop Metrics here to add data until you see a horizontal yellow line.

Drag and Drop a Metric into the Columns



– To drag and drop an object into the page-by axis of a template, in the template definition window, position your cursor over the page-by axis until you see a yellow rectangle.

Drag and Drop an Attribute into the Page-by Axis

5 On the report toolbar, click Run Report.



To save a report using a predesigned report:

1 In the report results window, do one of the following:

On the Home menu, select Save As.

OR

On the Home toolbar, click Save As.

To save a report without first running it, in Design Mode, on the report toolbar, click Save As.

2 In the Save As window, on the Report tab, navigate to the location in which you want to save your report.

By default, reports are saved to My Reports.

3 Type a name and description for your report.

Typing a description is optional.

4 Click OK.

The Report Saved window appears confirming your save action.


54 Blank Report © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Blank Report


Create and save a report using the blank report option.

In addition to predesigned reports, MicroStrategy Web also gives you the ability to create a report entirely from scratch, using any available object in the MicroStrategy project to define its template and report filter.

Web Professionals can also create blank reports that retrieve data from an Intelligent Cube or MDX Source.

To create a report using a blank report:



View Report in Design Mode Check Box

3 Click Blank Report.

4 In Design Mode, add the desired objects to the template definition window.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Blank Report 55


To add an attribute to the template definition window:

1 In Design Mode, in the Object Browser, display the All Objects pane.

2 Click Attributes.

This is a shortcut that displays all the project attributes.

3 Click the desired folder to display the list of attributes included in that folder.

4 Select an attribute, and do one of the following:

Double-click the attribute to add it to the rows of the template.

Use data pivoting to rearrange the objects as you see fit.

OR

Right-click the attribute, and select Add to Grid to add it to the rows of the template.


OR



Drag and drop the attribute from the All Objects pane to the desired position in the template definition window.

– To drag and drop an attribute into the rows of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop objects here to add rows until you see a vertical yellow line.

Drag and Drop an Attribute into the Rows

– To drag and drop an attribute into the columns of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop objects here to add columns until you see a horizontal yellow line.

Drag and Drop an Attribute into the Columns



– To drag and drop an object into the page-by axis of a template, in the template definition window, position your cursor over the page-by axis until you see a yellow rectangle.

Drag and Drop an Object into the Page-by Axis

To add a metric to the template definition window:

1 In Design Mode, in the Object Browser, display the All Objects pane.

2 Click Metrics.

This is a shortcut that displays all the project metrics.

3 Click the desired folder to display the list of metrics included in that folder.

4 Select a metric, and do one of the following:

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


OR



Right-click the metric, and select Add to Grid to add it to the columns of the template.


OR

Drag and drop the metric from the All Objects pane to the desired position in the template definition window.

– To drag and drop a metric into the columns of a template, in the template definition window, move your cursor over Drop Metrics here to add data until you see a horizontal yellow line.

Drag and Drop a Metric into the Columns


To save a report using a blank report:

1 In the report results window, do one of the following:

On the Home menu, select Save As.

OR



On the home toolbar, click Save As.

To save a report without first running it, in Design Mode, on the report toolbar, click Save As.

2 In the Save As window, on the Report tab, navigate to the location in which you want to save your report.

By default, reports are saved to My Reports.

3 Type a name and description for your report.


4 Click OK.

The Report Saved window appears confirming your save action.

Creating a Report from an MDX Source

In previous versions of MicroStrategy Web, you could create reports from OLAP cubes. The term OLAP cubes refers to non-MicroStrategy multidimensional expression (MDX) data sources, such as SAP BW, Microsoft® Analysis Services (MSAS), and Hyperion® Essbase®. MicroStrategy customers use MDX data sources as their OLAP cube solution, taking advantage of the convenient integration between the MicroStrategy platform and the OLAP cube provider.

The MicroStrategy Web interface now refers to OLAP cubes as MDX sources. When you click Create Report on the project home page, the Create Report page contains a link to select an MDX source. For more information on MDX data sources, see the MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.


60 Saving Templates and Report Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Saving Templates and Report Filters


Save template objects and report filter objects using the Report Editor. Combine templates and report filters to create new reports.

Earlier in this lesson, you learned how to save reports in the Report Editor. As a Web Professional, you also have the ability, in the Report Editor, to save as independent objects the template and report filter components of a report.

To save a template you have created in Design Mode:

1 In the Report Editor, in Design Mode, on the report toolbar, click Save As.

You must have an object on your template in order to enable the Save As button.

2 In the Save As window, click the Template tab.

3 Navigate to the location in which you want to save your template.

By default, templates are saved to My Reports.

4 Type a name and description for your template.


5 Click OK.

The Template Saved window appears confirming your save action.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Saving Templates and Report Filters 61

To save a report filter you have created in Design Mode:

1 In the Report Editor, in Design Mode, on the report toolbar, click Save As.

You must have an object on your template in order to enable the Save As button.

2 In the Save As window, click the Filter tab.

3 Navigate to the location in which you want to save your report filter.

By default, report filters are saved to My Reports.

4 Type a name and description for your report filter.


5 Click OK.

The Filter Saved window appears confirming your save action.

Combining Templates and Report Filters

Now that you know how to create template and report filter objects, you can combine them to create reports using the running filter + template feature. This feature displays the Run Filter + Template toolbar at the top of the page when you are viewing the Shared Reports or My Reports folders. The Run Filter + Template toolbar allows you to choose a filter and a template to be combined and executed, thus creating a new report from scratch.

Run Filter + Template Toolbar


62 Saving Templates and Report Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To enable the running filter + template feature:

1 On the project home page or on the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Preferences.

2 On the User Preferences page, on the left side, click Folder browsing.

3 On the Folder browsing page, select the Enable running filter + template check box.

4 Click Apply.

To create a report using the running filter + template feature:

1 In the My Reports or the Shared Reports folder, navigate to the desired filter.

2 Click the name of the desired filter.

On the Run Filter + Template toolbar, you now see the filter name instead of the (no filter) text.

3 In the My Reports or the Shared Reports folder, navigate to the desired template.

4 Click the name of the desired template.

On the Run Filter + Template toolbar, you now see the template name instead of the (no template) text.

5 On the Run Filter + Template toolbar, click Run Report.

When you save a report that you created using the running filter + template feature, you will see additional save options in the Save As window. For more information on these save options, see “Advanced Save Options” starting on page 63.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Advanced Save Options 63

Advanced Save Options


Describe the difference between shortcut and copy, and select the appropriate save options when creating reports from existing template and report filter objects.

In MicroStrategy Desktop, a report designer has the ability to create reports using shortcuts to existing template objects and report filter objects or create reports using copies of existing template objects and report filter objects.

Choosing Shortcut or Copy

Using a shortcut to an existing object to create a report means that any changes made to the object going forward are automatically propagated to the report. Similarly, changes made to the object from within the report are reflected in the original object and thus, are also automatically propagated to all other reports in which they are used as shortcuts. When using shortcuts to an existing object to create a report, the existing objects are referred to as linked objects.

Using a copy of an existing object means that changes to the object going forward do not affect the report. Similarly, changes made to the object from within the report do not affect the component objects or any other report in which they are used as shortcuts.


64 Advanced Save Options © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

In Web Professional, you have the ability to modify both templates and report filters in Design Mode. In the event that you modify a report that was created using shortcuts or you create your own report using the running filter + template feature, when you save the report, you are presented with additional options in the Save As window.

Save As Window

If you want to keep the shortcuts to both the template and report filter objects, select the Keep template and filter as linked objects check box. After clicking OK in the Save As window, the following message appears:

Confirm Overwrite Window



If you click Yes, any changes you made to the template and the report filter in Design Mode overwrites the original template and report filter object definitions with your new definitions, which also affect all other reports that were created using shortcuts to these objects.

On the other hand, if you do not want to keep the shortcuts to either the template or the report filter objects, but would rather create copies of both the template and report filter objects, clear the Keep template and filter as linked objects check box, and click OK.

If you want to keep the shortcut to one object and make a copy of another object, click the Advanced Options link and choose from one of the following options:

• Keep shortcut to template—Select this check box if you want to keep the shortcut to the template object. All changes you made to the template in Design Mode are propagated to the template object, which also affects all other reports that were created using shortcuts to the template.

• Keep shortcut to filter—Select this check box, if you want to keep the shortcut to the report filter object. All changes you made to the report filter in Design Mode are propagated to the report filter object, which also affects all other reports that were created using shortcuts to the report filter.

Save As Window—Advanced Options


66 Exercises © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Exercises

All exercises should be completed in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

Log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial project

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

2 On the MicroStrategy Web home page, click the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

If you do not see any MicroStrategy projects, inform the instructor.

3 On the login page, type the user name and password provided to you by the instructor, and click Login.

Create a Report Using a Predesigned Report

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new report in Design Mode, using the Product Analysis predesigned report. You will add Category, Quarter, and Revenue to the template. You will then save the report in the My Reports folder as Revenue by Quarter and Category.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Exercises 67

The first few rows of the result set will look like the following:

You can use the detailed instructions that follow for assistance.

Detailed Instructions

Create the report



3 Click the Product Analysis predesigned report.



Define the template

4 In Design Mode, in the Object Browser, on the Report Objects pane, right-click Category, and select Add to Grid.

5 Double-click Quarter.

6 Drag and drop Revenue into the metrics section on the template.

Run the report

7 In Design Mode, on the report toolbar, click Run Report.

8 Refer to the beginning of the exercise to verify your results.

Save the report

9 On the Home menu, select Save As.

In the Save As window, on the Report tab, in the Save in drop-down list, notice the My Reports folder is selected.

10 Name the report Revenue by Quarter and Category.

11 Delete the current description, and if you would like, type a new one.

12 Click OK.

The Report Saved window appears confirming your save action. Continue to the next exercise.



Create a Report Using the Blank Report Option

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new report in Design Mode, using the Blank Report option. It will display the Revenue and Profit for all subcategories during 2008. This report will also show the category to which each subcategory belongs. You will save this report as Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008.

The result set will look like the following:





Create the report




Define the template

4 In Design Mode, in the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, click the Attributes shortcut.

5 Click the Products folder.

6 Right-click Category, and select Add to Grid.

7 Drag and drop Subcategory into the rows of the template, to the right of Category.

8 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select the Metrics shortcut.

9 Click the Sales Metrics folder.

10 Double-click Revenue.

11 Double-click Profit.

Define the report filter

12 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select the Attributes shortcut.

13 In the Find box, type Year.

14 Click Find.

15 Right-click Year, and select Add to Filter.



16 In the report filter definition window, select Select.

17 In the Available list, select 2008, and click Add to selections.

18 Click Apply.

Run the report



Save the report


In the Save As window, on the Report tab, in the Save in drop-down list, notice the My Reports folder is selected. You should see your Revenue by Quarter and Category report you created in the previous exercise.

22 Name the report Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008.

23 If you would like, type a description.

24 Click OK.



Create a Report with a Report Filter

Overview

In this exercise, you will create another report in Design Mode, using the Blank Report option. You will add Customer State to the page-by axis, Income Bracket to the rows, and Units Sold and Revenue to the columns. You will then define a report filter, so only data for the Southwest customer region is returned in the result set. You will save the report in the My Reports folder as Southwest Customer State Units Sold and Revenue by Income Bracket.

The first page of the result set will look like the following:



Create the report






Define the template


5 Click the Customers folder.

6 Drag and drop Customer State onto the page-by axis.

7 Double-click Income Bracket.



10 Double-click Units Sold.

You may need to navigate to the second page in order to see all of the metrics.



12 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select the Attributes shortcut.

13 In the Find box, type Customer Region.

14 Click Find.

15 Drag and drop Customer Region into the report filter definition window.


17 In the Available list, double-click Southwest.



18 Click Apply.

Run the report



Save the report


In the Save As window, on the Report tab, in the Save in drop-down list, notice the My Reports folder is selected.

22 Name the report Southwest Customer State Units Sold and Revenue by Income Bracket.


24 Click OK.

Create a Template Object

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new template object named Employee Sales. The template will have the Call Center and Employee attributes in the rows and the Revenue and Units Sold metrics in the columns. You will save this template in a new My Templates folder, which you will create in My Reports. You will reuse this template to create a new report in a later exercise.



The template will look like the following:



Create the report




Define the template

4 In the Report Editor, in Design Mode, in the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, click the Attributes shortcut.

5 Click the Geography folder.

6 Drag and drop Call Center into the rows of the template.

7 Double-click Employee.



10 Right-click Revenue, and select Add to Grid.





12 Refer to the beginning of the exercise to verify your template definition.

Save the template

13 On the report toolbar, click Save As.

In the Save As window, notice you are in the My Reports folder.

14 Click the Template tab.

15 Click Create New Folder.

16 In the Create Folder window, in the Folder box, type My Templates.


18 Click Create Folder.

In the Save As window, notice you are now in the My Templates folder you just created.

19 In the Name box, type Employee Sales.


21 Click OK.

The Template Saved window appears confirming your save action. Continue to the next exercise.



Create a Report Filter Object

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new report filter object named Southwest Customer Region using the Southwest Customer State Income Brackets by Units Sold and Revenue report you created earlier. You will save this report filter in a new My Filters folder, which you will create in My Reports. You will reuse this report filter to create a new report in a later exercise.

The report filter will look like the following:



Edit the Report

1 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click My Reports.

2 Below the Southwest Customer State Units Sold and Revenue by Income Bracket report, click the Edit link.

If you see the Folder contents in List View, the Edit link appears on the far right.

Save the report filter


In the Save As window, notice you are in the My Reports folder.



4 Click the Filter tab.

5 Click Create New Folder.

6 In the Create Folder window, in the Folder box, type My Filters.


8 Click Create Folder.

In the Save As window, notice you are now in the My Filters folder you just created.

9 In the Name box, type Southwest Customer Region.


11 Click OK.

The Filter Saved window appears confirming your save action. Continue to the next exercise.

Use an Existing Template & Report Filter to Create a Report

Overview

In this exercise, you will combine the Employee Sales template with the Southwest Customer Region report filter to create a new report. You will save the new report in the My Reports folder as Southwest Sales.




To use an existing template and report filter to create a report, you must have the running filter + template feature enabled.



Create the report


Notice the running filter + template toolbar.

If you do not see the running filter + template feature, you will need to enable it. (Hint - see “Combining Templates and Report Filters” starting on page 61.)



Select a report filter

2 Click the My Filters folder.

3 Click the Southwest Customer Region report filter.

Select a template


5 Click the My Templates folder.

6 Click the Employee Sales template.

Run the report

7 On the Run Filter + Template toolbar, click Run Report.

8 Refer to the beginning of the exercise to verify your report results.

Save the report

9 On the home toolbar, click Save As.

In the Save As window, on the Report tab, notice you are in the My Reports folder.

10 In the Name box, type Southwest Sales.


12 Select the Keep template and filter as linked objects check box.

13 Click OK.



Check your understanding

1 What did selecting the Keep template and filter as linked objects check box mean for your newly saved report?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Selecting the Keep template and filter as linked objects check box means you have saved your new report using shortcuts to both the template and the report filter objects. Any changes made to those objects going forward will automatically propagate to your report. Similarly, any changes you make to your report’s template and report filter will automatically affect the original template and report filter objects and propagate to any other reports using shortcuts to those objects.



Lesson Summary


• The components that make up a MicroStrategy report:

– Template

– Report Filter

– View

• The three options for creating reports in MicroStrategy Web:

– Prompted Predesigned Reports

– Predesigned Reports

– Blank Reports

• The three components of the Design Mode interface:

– Object Browser

– Template Definition Window

– Report Filter Definition Window

• To create and save a report using the predesigned report option

• To create and save a report using the blank report option

• To save template and report filter objects using the Report Editor

• To combine templates and report filters to create new reports using the running filter + template feature

• The difference between shortcuts to objects and copies of objects


3FILTERS IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

This lesson outlines how to create different types of report filter objects using the Filter Editor. There is also a discussion on how to use set operators to combine multiple filter conditions.

Filters in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals3


Lesson Objectives


Describe and create report filter objects using the Filter Editor and use set operators to precisely define your filter criteria.


• Describe a report filter and create the six types of report filter objects using the Filter Editor in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 85)

• Describe the four set operators available for combining filter conditions, change the default set operator, and rearrange multiple filter conditions. (Page 99)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Filters in MicroStrategy Web 3

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating Report Filters 85

Creating Report Filters


Describe a report filter and create the six types of report filter objects using the Filter Editor in MicroStrategy Web.

A report filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet to be included in report results. For example, consider the following illustration, which shows a table of data filtered by three different report filter conditions:

Report Filter Examples

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.

A report filter can be created as a separate object using the Filter Editor or embedded in a report using the Design Mode view of the Report Editor.


86 Creating Report Filters © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Using the Filter Editor

In addition to creating filters within the context of reports by using the Report Filter definition window of the Report Editor, you can also create standalone filters using the Filter Editor, as shown below:

MicroStrategy Web Filter Editor

You access the Filter Editor in any of the following ways:

• On the project home page, click the Create Filter link.

• From within a folder, right-click any blank area, point to New, and select Filter.

• From within a folder, on the action bar, click Create Filter.

The Filter Editor resembles the Report Filter definition window in the Report Editor. In the Object Browser, you simply drag attributes or metrics to the Filter pane to define the filter. The Filter Editor gives you direct access to the Data Explorer for easier object browsing.



Using the Filter Editor, you are able to add existing prompts to a filter. For example, if you have a prompt called “Select a Year,” you can use it in the Filter Editor to create a filter that returns only the year specified by the user at run time. You can also create a prompt on the fly by defining it from within the Filter Editor.

Additionally, you can use reports as filters by including them as the filtering criteria when you use the Filter Editor.

The following is a list of all the types of report filter conditions you are able to create with the Filter Editor:

• Attribute Form qualification

• Attribute Element List qualification

• Date qualification

• Metric Value qualification

• Filter qualification

• Report As Filter qualification

Creating an Attribute Form Qualification

An Attribute Form qualification 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 name begins with the letter “a.”

To qualify on an attribute form:

1 On the project home page, click the Create Filter link.

2 In the Filter Editor, on the Object Browser, browse or use the Find feature to locate the attribute with which you want to define your report filter.

Find Box



You can use wildcards, such as * and ? in the Find box. The search is not case sensitive.

3 On the Object Browser, when you have located the desired attribute, add the attribute to the filter definition window by doing one of the following:

Double click the attribute.

OR

Right-click the attribute, and select Add to Filter.

OR

Drag and drop the attribute from the Object Browser to the filter definition window.

In the filter definition window, notice that the Qualify radio button is selected by default.

Filter Definition Window

4 In the filter definition window, in the drop-down list, select the attribute form on which you want to qualify.

5 In the second drop-down list, select the operator you want to use.


6 In the box, type the appropriate value.

Depending on the operator you selected, you may need to type multiple values in the box.

7 Click Apply.



8 On the filter toolbar, click Save.

9 In the Save As window, in the Name box, type a name for the filter.

You can also add a description to the filter, which will display below the filter name in the folder.

10 Click OK.

Creating an Attribute Element List Qualification

An Attribute Element List qualification enables you to select from a list of attribute elements. You can choose from the “in” or the “not in” operator. For example, you can create an attribute element list qualification on the Region attribute that returns data for the Northwest and Southwest regions or returns data for all regions except for the Northwest and Southwest regions.

To qualify on a list of attribute elements:



Find Box






OR


OR


4 In the filter definition window, select Select.


5 In the drop-down list, select In List or Not In List.

6 In the Available list, select attribute elements by doing one of the following:

Double-click the attribute element.

OR

Highlight the attribute element, and click Add to selections.



To narrow down the list of attribute elements that display in the Available list, in the Search for box, type a text string, and click Find.

In the Selected list, remove an attribute element by double-clicking it or by selecting it and then clicking Remove from selections.

7 Click Apply.




10 Click OK.

Creating a Date Qualification

A date qualification enables you to qualify on an attribute with the date data type. For example, you can create a date qualification on the Day attribute to return only days between January 1, 2008, and February 12, 2008.



To qualify on a date:



Find Box




OR


OR


In the filter definition window, notice that the Qualify radio button is selected by default.


4 In the filter definition window, in the drop-down list, select the ID form.



5 In the second drop-down list, select the operator you want to use.


6 In the box, type the appropriate date (or date range), or click the calendar button and select a date from the date picker.

7 Click Apply.




10 Click OK.

Creating a Metric Value Qualification

Metric value qualifications enable you to restrict report results based on a metric value. For example, “Units Sold greater than or equal to 10” returns all values for Units Sold that are 10 or higher.



The metric is not required to appear on the 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.

To qualify on a metric value:


2 In the Filter Editor, on the Object Browser, browse or use the Find feature to locate the metric with which you want to define your report filter.

Find Box


3 On the Object Browser, when you have located the desired metric, add the metric to the filter definition window by doing one of the following:

Double click the metric.

OR

Right-click the metric, and select Add to Filter.

OR

Drag and drop the metric from the Object Browser to the filter definition window.

4 In the filter definition window, in the drop-down list, select the operator you want to use.


5 In the box, type the appropriate value.



6 Click Apply.




9 Click OK.

Creating a Filter Qualification

Using existing filter objects to define a new report filter can be thought of as embedding filters, which is a useful way to leverage existing filter objects. For example, the following report filters already exist in your project—Year 2008, Northwest Region, and Electronics Category. You now have a report that requires all three of these filter conditions. Rather than redefining each one of these filter conditions, you can simply reuse and combine the existing filters.

When you use an existing report filter object to define your report filter, you are creating a link to the original report filter object. As a result, any change made to the original report filter’s definition will automatically be reflected in your report.

To qualify on a filter qualification:




2 In the Filter Editor, on the Object Browser, browse or use the Find feature to locate the filter (usually located in the Public Objects\Shared Filters folder) with which you want to define your report filter.

Find Box


3 On the Object Browser, when you have located the desired filter, add the filter to the filter definition window by doing one of the following:

Double click the filter.

OR

Right-click the filter, and select Add to Filter.

OR

Drag and drop the filter from the Object Browser to the filter definition window.




6 Click OK.



Creating a Report As Filter Qualification

The result set of an existing report object can be used as a report filter qualification on a different 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 analyzing customers and the items these customers purchase. Specifically, you would like to find your most valued customers and see what items they are purchasing by Category. 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.

Using a report as a filter is a powerful feature. It enables you to ask more sophisticated questions as you analyze your business. Because the results of the report-as-filter report control the output of the main report, you can perform market basket-type analysis and create reports that use nested queries.

To qualify on an existing report:


2 In the Filter Editor, on the Object Browser, browse or use the Find feature to locate the report with which you want to define your report filter.

Find Box


3 On the Object Browser, when you have located the desired report, add the report to the filter definition window by doing one of the following:

Double click the report.



OR

Right-click the report, and select Add to Filter.

OR

Drag and drop the report from the Object Browser to the filter definition window.




6 Click OK.

Using a Report Filter Object in a Report

To use a report filter object in a report:

1 Create a new report or edit an existing report.

2 In the Report Editor, in Design Mode, in the Object Browser, locate the desired report filter object and place it on the Report Filter Definition window.

Creating a Filter in the Report Editor

Filters can be created as part of a given report in the Report Editor at the same time the report itself is being created. This is called an embedded report filter. You can create the six types of report filter conditions in the same manner as you created them in the Filter Editor.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Set Operators 99

Set Operators


Describe the four set operators available for combining filter conditions, change the default set operator, and rearrange multiple filter conditions.

When a report filter has more than one condition, those conditions are combined with set operators. Set operators govern the interaction between multiple report filter conditions. Following is a list of available set operators:

• AND

• OR

• OR NOT

• AND NOT

By default, the set operator inserted between two filter conditions is AND.

For example, suppose you have a filter with two conditions, Year = 2008 and Region = Northeast.


100 Set Operators © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The following illustration shows the output when the AND set operator is used to combine these conditions:

AND Set Operator

Only revenue generated both in 2008 and in the Northeast is returned in the result set.

The following illustration shows the output when the OR set operator is used to combine these conditions:

OR Set Operator



Revenue generated either in 2008, or in the Northeast, or in both 2008 and the Northeast is returned in the result set.

The following illustration shows the output when the OR NOT set operator is used to combine these conditions:

OR NOT Set Operator

Revenue generated in 2008 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.


102 Set Operators © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The following illustration shows the output when the AND NOT set operator is used to combine these conditions:

AND NOT Set Operator

Revenue generated in 2008 in any region except the Northeast is returned in the result set.

To change the set operator:

1 In the Filter Editor, in the filter definition window, click the current set operator.

2 On the menu, select the desired set operator.

Set Operator Menu



In addition to manipulating set operators to control the interaction between different report filter conditions, you can also use the Shift Up and Shift Down buttons to reorder the report filter conditions.

Shift Up Button

Shift Down Button

If you have more than two report filter conditions with different set operators among them, use the Shift Right button to group report filter conditions together. This is analogous to adding parentheses around two report filter conditions.

Shift Right Button

Use the Shift Left button to ungroup report filter conditions. This is analogous to removing parentheses from around two report filter conditions.

Shift Left Button



Exercises


Add an Additional Filter Condition to an Existing Report

Overview

In this exercise, you will modify the Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report you created earlier to show only the subcategories in the Movies and Music categories. You will save this report as a new report in the My Reports folder as Movies and Music Revenue and Profit for 2008 prior to running it.

The final result set will look like the following:

Do not create a new report for this exercise. Modify your existing Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report.





Edit the report


2 Locate your Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report, and click the Edit link below it.

Modify the report filter

3 In the Object Browser, click the All Objects pane.

4 Click the Attributes shortcut.


6 Drag and drop Category into the report filter definition window.


8 In the Available list, while holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard, highlight Movies and Music.

9 Click Add to selections.

10 Click Apply.

Save the report





12 Name the report Movies and Music Revenue and Profit for 2008.


14 Click OK.

Run the report

15 In the Report Saved window, click Run newly saved report.


Create an Attribute Element List Report Filter

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a report filter object using the Filter Editor that includes the following items: Adirondack Style, 50 Favorite Rooms, Blue & White Living, 40 Most Wanted Cats, How to Live with a Neurotic Dog, and The New Fit or Fat. You will save the report filter in your My Filters folder as List of Items. You will use this report filter in a future exercise.



Create the filter




2 On the action bar, click Create Filter.


3 In the Object Browser, click the Attributes shortcut.


5 Right-click Item, and select Add to Filter.


7 In the Available list, while holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select the following:

• Adirondack Style:images\5.jpg

• 50 Favorite Rooms:images\7.jpg

• Blue and White Living:images\9.jpg


You can also double-click each of these items to add them to the Selected list.

9 Under the Available list, click Next.

10 In the Available list, scroll down, and while holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard, select the following:

• 40 Most Wanted Cats:images\49.jpg

• How to Live with a Neurotic Dog:images\60.jpg




You can also double-click each of these items to add them to the Selected list.

12 Under the Available list, click First.

13 In the Search for box, type fit.

14 Click Find.

15 Double-click The New Fit or Fat:images\83.jpg.

You should now have six items in the Selected list.

16 Click Apply.



18 Click the My Reports folder.


20 Name the report filter List of Items.



21 For the description, type the following: Adirondack Style, 50 Favorite Rooms, Blue & White Living, 40 Most Wanted Cats, How to Live with a Neurotic Dog, and The New Fit or Fat.

22 Click OK.

23 Close the Filter Editor.

Create a Metric Value Report Filter and Use It on a Report

Overview

You will now create a report filter to qualify on the Revenue metric, so only revenue over $1,200,000 will be returned. You will save the report filter object in My Filters as Revenue > 1,200,000.

The report filter will look like the following:

Next, you will create a report with Year and Month in the rows and Revenue in the columns. You will add the Revenue > 1,200,000 filter to this report and save it in My Reports as High Performing Months.






Create the filter




3 In the Object Browser, click the Metrics shortcut.


5 Drag and drop Revenue into the report filter definition window.

6 In the operator drop-down list, select Greater than.

7 In the box, type 1200000.

8 Click Apply.







12 Name the report filter Revenue > 1,200,000.


14 Click OK.


Create the report

1 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Create Report.



Define the template


5 Click the Time folder.

6 Drag and drop Year into the rows of the template.

7 Double-click Month.

8 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select Metrics.


10 Drag and drop Revenue into the columns of the template.

Add the filter

11 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select My Personal Objects.



14 Right-click Revenue > 1,200,000, and select Add to Filter.



Run the report



Save the report



18 Name the report High Performing Months.


20 Click OK.

Create a Report with Filter Qualifications

Overview

Using the Report Editor, you will create another report with Year, Item, Revenue, and Units Sold on the template. For the filter, you will reuse two of the report filters you created earlier. You will save this report in My Reports as Select Items in Southwest.






Create the report


2 On the Create Report page, make sure the View report in Design Mode check box is selected.


Define the template



6 Drag and drop Year into the rows of the template.



7 Click Up One Level.


9 Drag and drop Item to the right of Year.




13 Drag and drop Units Sold to the right of Revenue.



14 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, in the drop-down list, select My Personal Objects.



17 Right-click the Southwest Customer Region report filter, and select Add to Filter.

18 Double-click the List of Items report filter.

Run the report





Save the report



22 Name the report Select Items in Southwest.


24 Click OK.


1 If someone modified the Southwest Customer Region report filter object to include Northeast, how would this affect your Select Items in Southwest report?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Because you created the Select Items in Southwest report using the Southwest Customer Region report filter object, you are using a link to the report filter object. As a result, any change made to the original report filter’s definition will automatically be reflected in your report. In other words, your Select Items in Southwest report would now show data for the items in two Customer Regions, Southwest and Northeast.



Create a Report As Filter Qualification and Use It on a Report

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a report that identifies the top five employees by revenue. You will then create a filter based on this report. Lastly, you will apply the filter to another report. When you complete the exercise, your final report should resemble the following image:

Your report results may vary from the image shown above, because the Length of Employment metric changes dynamically based on your computer’s system clock.


Create the Top 5 Employees report






Define the template



6 Drag and drop Employee into the rows of the template.





10 In the Object Browser, right-click Revenue, and select Add to Filter.

11 In the operator drop-down list, select Highest.

12 In the value box, type 5.

13 Click Apply.




You should get the following results:

Save the report



16 Name the report Top 5 Employees.


18 Click OK.

Create the report as filter qualification



21 In the Object Browser, click the My Personal Objects shortcut.




23 Drag and drop the Top 5 Employees report into the report filter definition window.




26 Name the report filter Top 5 Employees.


28 Click OK.


Apply the filter to an existing report

30 On the MicroStrategy Web toolbar, click Shared Reports.

31 Click Subject Areas.

32 Click Human Resources Analysis.

33 Locate the Length of Employment report, and click the Edit link below it.

34 In the Object Browser, select the All Objects pane.

35 In the Object Browser, on the All Objects pane, click the My Personal Objects shortcut.


37 Drag and drop the Top 5 Employees filter into the report filter definition window.



Run the report



The results show the length of employment only for the top five employees. The Top 5 Employees report filters the contents of the Length of Employment report, which would typically return all employees.

Save the report


In the Save As window, on the Report tab, if you notice you are in the Human Resources Analysis folder, go to the My Reports folder.

41 Name the report Report as Filter Example.


43 Click OK.



Lesson Summary


• The definition of a report filter object

• To create six types of report filter objects using the Report Filter Editor:

– Attribute Form qualification

– Attribute Element List qualification

– Date qualification

– Metric Value qualification

– Filter qualification

– Report as Filter qualification

• To use the following set operators:

– AND

– OR

– OR NOT

– AND NOT


4PROMPTS IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

This lesson introduces the Prompt Editor in MicroStrategy Web. It also describes the different types of prompts and how to create them and use them in reports. Finally, you will see the advanced options for saving prompted reports.

Prompts in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals4


Lesson Objectives


Describe and use the Prompt Editor. Create prompts and add them to reports. Save prompted reports.


• Describe the six types of prompts that can be created with the Prompt Editor in MicroStrategy Web. (Page 125)

• Create the six different types of prompts using the Prompt Editor. (Page 130)

• Add prompts to a report using the Report Editor. (Page 139)

• Choose the appropriate settings when saving a report containing prompt objects. (Page 143)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Prompts in MicroStrategy Web 4

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The Prompt Editor 125

The Prompt Editor


Describe the six types of prompts that can be created with the Prompt Editor in MicroStrategy Web.

In MicroStrategy Web, Web Professionals can create prompts that are used to dynamically change 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. Additionally, you can make different prompt selections each time you run the report.

A prompt can be created as a separate object using the Prompt Editor.

Web Professionals can create the following types of prompts directly in MicroStrategy Web:

Create Prompt Options in MicroStrategy Web


126 The Prompt Editor © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• Hierarchy qualification prompt—Enables you to select prompt answers from all attributes within a hierarchy or a list of hierarchies. This is the most flexible type of prompt. It defines the filtering criteria for a report.

• Attribute qualification prompt—Enables you to select prompt answers by specifying the attribute object and defining the qualification condition for this object. This prompt is more restrictive than the hierarchy qualification prompt, because the user has fewer attribute elements from which to select answers. An attribute qualification prompt defines the filtering criteria for a report.

• Attribute element list—Enables you to select prompt answers from a limited list of attribute elements. This prompt is the most restrictive of the filter definition prompts because the user has the fewest number of attribute elements to select.

• Metric qualification prompt—Enables you to define a metric qualification, which determines what data should be displayed for one or more metrics on the report.

• Object prompt—Enables you to select filter objects to include in a report.

In Desktop, you can create object prompts that let you select attributes, metrics, and other objects to include in the template of a report. If you create these types of object prompts in Desktop, you can use them in MicroStrategy Web when you run the object-prompted report. However, when it comes to creating object prompts from scratch in MicroStrategy Web, you can create only those that go into the report filter.

• 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.



The Prompt Editor in MicroStrategy Web contains several tabs that list additional options for defining a prompt:

Prompt Editor—General Tab

The General tab lets you define the following options:

• Title and instructions—You can customize the title and instructions of a prompt, both of which are displayed to users when they answer the prompt.

• Answer requirements—You can indicate whether a prompt answer is required or optional. A required prompt requires users to answer the prompt or the report will not run. An optional prompt does not require users to answer the prompt.

• Minimum and Maximum number of answers—You can set a limit for the minimum and maximum number of answers. For example, if you want users to select a single year in a attribute element list prompt, you would set the maximum number of answers to 1.

• Personal answers allowed—You can specify if users should be permitted to save their prompt answers for future use and whether they can save single or multiple prompt answers.


128 The Prompt Editor © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Unlike Desktop, the Prompt Editor in MicroStrategy Web does not currently support setting default prompt answers. However, individual users can save their default prompt answers at report run time, if you enable the Personal answers allowed option.

The Personal answers allowed option is available in the Prompt Editor only if the administrator selects the Enable personal answers project-level preference in MicroStrategy Web.

The Style tab lets you specify the display style of the prompt:

Prompt Editor—Style Tab

The style options vary, depending on the type of prompt you are defining.



The Qualification tab displays in the Prompt Editor when you define an attribute, hierarchy, or metric qualification prompt:

Prompt Editor—Qualification Tab

Among other things, this tab lets you specify if users can control the logical operators between multiple conditions in a qualification prompt.


130 Creating Prompts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Creating Prompts


Create the six different types of prompts using the Prompt Editor.

There are several ways to create a prompt in MicroStrategy Web, including the following methods:

• On the project home page, click Create Prompt.

• Right-click a folder, point to New, point to Prompt, and select the desired prompt type.

• In the Object Browser for any open report, in the All Objects pane or the Report Objects pane, right-click an attribute, and select either Add Qualification Prompt to Filter or Add Element Prompt to Filter.

• In the Object Browser for any open report, in the All Objects pane or the Report Objects pane, right-click a metric, and select Add Prompt to Filter.

The following procedures list the different types of prompts that you can create in MicroStrategy Web.

Creating a Hierarchy Qualification Prompt

You have several options when you choose the hierarchy qualification type of filter definition prompt. You can prompt the user to qualify on any attribute from within all project hierarchies, a predefined group of hierarchies, or a specific hierarchy or any attribute that is returned by a specific search object.

To create a hierarchy qualification prompt:

1 On the project home page, click Create Prompt.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Creating Prompts 131

2 Click Hierarchical Qualification Prompt.

3 On the Definition tab, choose one of the following options and, as necessary, specify the required information for your chosen option:

• All Hierarchies—Select this option to let the user choose attributes from all the hierarchies in the project.

• Choose a Hierarchy—Select this option to present the user with a specific hierarchy from which to choose attributes and elements. Browse to and select the hierarchy by clicking Select Hierarchy.

• Use a predefined list of hierarchies—Select this option to create a list of hierarchies from which users can choose. Click Add, select the hierarchies, then click OK.

• Use the result of a search object—Select this option to browse to and select a previously created search object or specify the name of the search object. A search object will search for and display specific project objects when the user executes the report. This lets you prompt the user with the most up-to-date objects in the project.

4 On the General tab, specify a title and description for the prompt in the Title and Instruction boxes.

5 Click Save As.

6 In the Save As window, specify a name, description, and the location in which to save the prompt.

7 Click OK.

Creating an Attribute Qualification Prompt

This type of filter definition prompt can be used to create a more focused prompt than the hierarchy prompt. The user can qualify on any project attribute, a predefined group of attributes, or any attribute that is returned by a specific search object.



To create an attribute qualification prompt:


2 In the Create Prompt page, select Attribute Qualification Prompt.

3 In the Prompt Editor, on the Definition tab, select a specific attribute, select a predefined list of attributes (as shown below), or specify a search object from which to qualify on an attribute:

Prompt Editor—Definition Tab

When you specify a search object, users will be able to browse through a hierarchical list of objects on which to qualify.

4 On the Definition tab, specify the attribute forms that should be displayed for the attribute qualification (All attribute forms, Browse forms, or Report display forms).

5 On the General tab, specify the title and instructions for the prompt.



6 On the General tab, specify whether the prompt is required, if it has any limits for minimum or maximum number of answers, and if it permits users to save single or multiple personal answers.

7 On the Style tab, specify the prompt display style, the text box width and height, the orientation, and whether to show the search box.

8 On the Qualification tab, specify the expression type (Qualify, Select, or both), the default condition operator, the maximum number of elements per list, the default operator between conditions, and whether users can modify the logical operator selection.

9 Click Save As.


11 Click OK.

Creating an Attribute Element List Prompt

This type of filter definition prompt can be used to create a prompt that requires users to select from a list of attribute elements to answer the prompt. You have the choice of presenting them with the entire attribute element list, using an existing report filter object to narrow down the attribute element list, or creating a custom attribute element list.

To create an attribute element list prompt:


2 Click Attribute Element List.

3 Click Select Attribute.

4 Browse to and select the attribute.



5 To define the specific elements from which the user will be able to choose, select one of the following options:

• List all elements (no restrictions)—This option displays all of the attribute’s elements to the user when he is answering the prompt.

• Use a predefined list of elements—Select this option to create a list of attribute elements from which users can choose. Click Add, select the elements, then click OK. To remove an object, highlight it, and click Remove. To remove all items, click Clear.

• Use a filter to define the elements—This option is useful for attributes with a large number of elements, such as Customer or Employee. You can select a filter that returns a specific set of customers, for example, the top 100 customers this month. Browse to and select the filter.

6 Click the General tab.

7 Specify a title and instructions for the prompt in the Title and Instructions boxes.

8 Click Save As.


10 Click OK.

Creating a Metric Qualification Prompt

This type of filter definition prompt can be used to create a prompt that enables a user to qualify on a metric. The user can qualify on a selected metric, a custom list of metrics, or any metrics that are retuned by a specific search object.

To create a metric qualification prompt:




2 Click Metric Qualification Prompt.

3 Choose one of the following to select the metric(s) for which users can define their filters:

• Choose a Metric—Browse to and select a specific metric to use in the prompt. Users will be able to filter their report data based on the metric you select.

• Use a predefined list of metrics—Select this option to create a list of metrics from which users can choose. Click Add, select the metrics, then click OK. To remove an object, highlight it, and click Remove. To remove all items, click Clear.

• Use the result of a search object—If you have previously created a search object, browse to and select the search object or specify the name of the search object. A search object will search for and display specific project objects when the user executes the report. This lets you prompt the user with the most up-to-date objects in the project. For example, you can let the user select a metric from a search for all metrics with Revenue in the name.



6 Click Save As.


8 Click OK.

Creating an Object Prompt

In MicroStrategy Web, you can only create object prompts that go into the report filter. For example, you can prompt on a list of report filter objects to apply to a metric or attribute. The user can qualify on a custom list of objects or a list of objects that are returned by a specific search object.



To create an object prompt:


2 In the Create Prompt page, click Object Prompt.

3 In the Prompt Editor, on the Definition tab, select either Use a predefined list of objects (and add the desired filters) or Use the result of a search object (and add the desired search for filter objects), as shown below:

Object Prompt Definition Options



6 Click the Style tab.

7 Select the desired display style and additional formatting settings.

8 Click Save As.




10 Click OK.

Creating a Value Prompt

Value prompts are typically used as part of a filter definition. You can prompt on a date, a numeric value, a text string, or a big decimal value.

To create a value prompt:


2 On the Create Prompt page, click Value Prompt.

3 In the Prompt Editor, on the Definition tab, select the desired value prompt type, as shown below:

Value Prompt Definition Options




7 Specify a Fixed textbox width if desired.

8 Enable the Allow user to select time option if desired.



9 Click Save As.


11 Click OK.

Creating a Prompt in the Report Editor or Filter Editor

Prompts can also be created locally within a report, at the same time the report itself is being created. Prompts created as part of a report are saved with the report's definition. Therefore, a prompt created as part of a report cannot be used on any other report.

Prompts can also be created as a part of a filter, at the same time the filter itself is being created. Prompts created as part of a filter are saved with the filter's definition. Therefore, a prompt created as part of a filter cannot be used on any other filter.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Adding Prompts to a Report 139

Adding Prompts to a Report


Add prompts to a report using the Report Editor.

A prompt is a question the system presents to a user during report execution. How the user answers the question determines what data is displayed on the report when it is returned from your data source.

You need to know what type of prompt you will be using when deciding where and how to add it to a report.

For example, object prompts are most commonly placed directly on a report, but can also be placed in the condition part of a metric's definition in the Metric Editor, depending on the type of object in the object prompt.

There are multiple ways to add a prompt to a report. A Web Professional can add a prompt by:

• Double-clicking on the prompt

• Right-clicking on the prompt and selecting add to filter

• Dragging the prompt and dropping it in the report filter definition window or in the template

Using Filter Definition Prompts

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. Filter Definition Prompts include:

• Hierarchy Qualification

• Attribute Qualification

• Attribute Element List

• Metric Qualification


140 Adding Prompts to a Report © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To use a filter definition prompt in a report:

1 Create a new report or open an existing report in Design view.

2 Drag the filter definition prompt to the filter definition window.

3 Add more report filter conditions if desired.

4 Run the report and answer the prompt.

When you run the report, a window that looks similar to the Filter Editor appears. If the filter definition prompt is required, you must answer the prompt before the report will run.

Using Object Prompts

In MicroStrategy Web, all object prompts must be placed in the filter definition window.

To use the object prompt in a report:

1 Create a report or open an existing report in Design view.

2 Locate the object prompt and drag it to the Filter pane.

3 Run the report and answer the object prompt.

Using Value Prompts

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.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Adding Prompts to a Report 141

• 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 such as an attribute qualification on the ID attribute form.

To use a value prompt in a report:

1 Create a new report or open an existing report in Design view.

2 Drag either an attribute (such as Day, for a date value prompt) or a metric (for a numeric value prompt) to the Filter pane.

3 Locate the value prompt, right-click it, and select Add to Filter.

4 Click Apply.

For example, a value-prompted attribute qualification on Day is shown below:

Value-Prompted Attribute Qualification

5 Run the report and answer the value prompt.

As you have seen, to use the value prompt on a report, you need to include it in an attribute qualification or metric qualification filter. The benefit to creating the value prompt from scratch within the Prompt Editor is that you now have a reusable value prompt object that you can apply to multiple qualification filters and reports.


142 Adding Prompts to a Report © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

You also have the option to define value-prompted filters directly in the Filter Editor (either in the standalone Filter Editor or the Filter Editor within an open report.) For more information on this method, see the “Filters in MicroStrategy Web” lesson starting on page 83.



Advanced Save Options


Choose the appropriate settings when saving a report containing prompt objects.

When you save a prompted report after answering prompts and running the report, you are presented with additional save options.

Save As Window with Advanced Save Options

The Advanced Options on the Save As window include the following options:


144 Advanced Save Options © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• Save report as 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.

• Save report as 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 prompt, or both.

– Only filter will be prompted

– Only template will be prompted

– Filter and template will be prompted

• Set the current prompt answers as 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.



Exercises


Attribute Qualification Prompts

Overview

In this exercise, you will create an attribute qualification prompt and use it in a report. When you complete the exercise, you should have a report that resembles the following image:



Create the prompt

2 Click Attribute Qualification Prompt.

3 On the Definition tab, select Choose an attribute.




5 In the Select an Object window, click the Geography folder.

6 Scroll down to select Region.

7 Click OK.


9 Select the Prompt answer is required check box.

10 In the Personal answers allowed drop-down list, select Multiple.


12 In the Display style drop-down list, select Radio button.

13 Click the Qualification tab.

14 In the Default expression type drop-down list, select Select.

15 Click Save As.

16 Save the prompt to My Reports, naming it Region Prompt.

17 Close the prompt.

Apply the prompt to an existing report

18 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Human Resources Analysis folder, locate the Employee Headcount by Region report.

19 Open the report in Design view.

20 In the Object Browser, click All Objects.

21 Expand My Personal Objects and My Reports to locate the Region Prompt.

22 Drag the Region Prompt to the Filter pane.

23 Run the report.



24 In the Region Prompt, under the Select list, click Edit.

25 Select Northeast and Northwest.

26 Click OK.

27 Select the Save this answer when report is run check box.

28 Name the saved answer, NE and NW.

29 Click Run Report.

30 Save the report in the My Reports folder, naming it Prompted Employee Headcount by Region.

Value Prompts

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a value prompt and use it in a report.

A value prompt must be used within a filter, metric, or other object. It cannot go directly on a report. In this exercise, you will create a value prompt in the context of a filter. It is also possible to create a value prompt as a separate standalone prompt object (defining it using the Prompt Editor). When you create is as a prompt object, you can reuse it in other filters.



When you complete the exercise, you should have a report that resembles the following image:


Create the value-prompted filter

1 On project home page, click Create Filter.

2 In the Object Browser, click Attributes.

3 Expand the Time folder.

4 Right-click Day, and select Add to Filter.

5 In the Filter pane, click Create Value Prompt (the right-most prompt button).

6 Click the Day Value link.

7 In the Prompt Editor, click the General tab.

8 Select the Prompt answer is required check box.

9 Select the Minimum value check box.

10 In the box, type 6/1/2008.



11 Select the Maximum value check box.

12 In the box, type 12/31/2008.


You can enable the user to select a time.

14 Make no changes, and click OK.

15 In the Filter pane, click Apply.

16 Click Save As.

17 Save to My Reports, naming it Enter a Date.

18 Close the filter.

Apply the value-prompted filter to an existing report

19 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Sales and Profitability Analysis folder, locate the Individual Sales Analysis report.

20 Open the report in Design view.

21 In the Filter pane, remove the Q4 -Fixed time selection for demo filter.

22 In the Object Browser, open the All Objects pane.

23 Locate the Enter a Date filter in My Personal Objects\My Reports.

24 Drag the Enter a Date filter to the Filter pane.


26 In the date prompt, type 11/1/2008.


28 Save the report to the My Reports folder, naming it Prompted Daily Individual Sales Analysis.



Lesson Summary


• The definition of a prompt

• To create six types of prompt objects using the Prompt Editor:

– Hierarchy qualification prompt

– Attribute qualification prompt

– Attribute element list

– Metric qualification prompt

– Object prompt

– Value prompt

• To add filter definition prompts, object prompts, and value prompts to reports

• To choose the appropriate advanced save options when saving a prompted report


5ADVANCED REPORT MANIPULATION IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

Web Reporters and Web Analysts are able to perform many manipulations to reports. This lesson describes the advanced report manipulations only available to you in MicroStrategy Web Professional. These include using the All Objects pane from the report results window, disabling the drilling feature on reports, configuring the Report Details properties, and adding links to reports.

Advanced Report Manipulation in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals5


Lesson Objectives


Use the All Objects pane to add objects to a report, disable drilling on a report, configure the Report Details properties, and create links to connect to other reports and documents.


• Use the All Objects pane to add objects to a report. (Page 153)

• Disable drilling on a report. (Page 158)

• Configure the information that displays in the Report Details properties. (Page 160)

• Create links in a report and access links to connect to other reports or documents. (Page 166)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Advanced Report Manipulation in MicroStrategy Web 5

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. All Objects Pane 153

All Objects Pane


Use the All Objects pane to add objects to a report.

As you learned in the previous lesson, the All Objects pane on the Object Browser allows you to navigate through the project to locate objects you wish to add to the report. Earlier, you learned about the All Objects pane in the context of Design Mode, but you can also view the All Objects pane in the report results window.

To view the All Objects pane in the report results window:

1 In the report results window, on the Tools menu, select All Objects.

All Objects Pane


154 All Objects Pane © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Adding and Removing Objects to and from a Report

You are already familiar with adding objects from the Report Objects pane to your template and removing objects from the template back to the Report Objects pane. Neither of these actions requires the generation of new SQL or the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse.

The Report Objects pane is only available with MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

In Web Professional, you can also add objects from the All Objects pane to your template. Adding an object from the All Objects pane to your template does require the generation of new SQL and the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse.

To add an object to the template from the All Objects pane:

1 In the report results window, in the Object Browser, click the All Objects pane.

2 In the All Objects pane, navigate to the object you want to add to the template and do one of the following:

Double-click the object you want to add. Attributes are added to the rows of the template, and metrics are added to the columns.

OR

Right-click the object you want to add, and select Add to Grid. Attributes are added to the rows of the template, and metrics are added to the columns.

OR

Drag and drop the object into the desired position on the template.



While the SQL is generating and the report is re-executing against the data warehouse, the following window appears:

Processing Request Window

Depending on how long it takes to re-execute the report, the following window may appear:

Additional Processing Request Window

When the report has finished executing against the data warehouse, you are presented with the new report results.

Removing objects from the template and the Report Objects pane also requires the generation of new SQL and the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse.


156 All Objects Pane © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

To remove an object from a report:

1 In the report results window, on the template, right-click the header of the object that you want to remove, and select Remove from Report.

Remove from Report Option

Remove from Grid removes the object from the template but returns it to the Report Objects pane. It does not completely remove it from the report’s definition.

While the SQL is generating and the report is re-executing against the data warehouse, the following window appears:

Processing Request Window



Depending on how long it takes to re-execute the report, the following window may appear:

Additional Processing Request Window

When the report has finished executing against the data warehouse, you are presented with the new report results.


158 Disabling Drilling on Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Disabling Drilling on Reports


Disable drilling on a report.

Web Professionals can disable drilling on a report-by-report basis using the Report Editor in MicroStrategy Web. This feature is useful when you want to limit the analysis paths of end users.

To disable drilling on a report in MicroStrategy Web:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Tools menu, select Report Options.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Disabling Drilling on Reports 159

3 In the Report Options window, on the General tab, under Drilling, in the Drill Options drop-down list, select No drilling.

Report Options Window

4 Click OK.


160 Report Details Properties © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Report Details Properties


Configure the information that displays in the Report Details properties.

As a Web Professional, you can configure the information that displays in the Report Details properties. For instance, you can specify whether you want to show template filter details, what information to display within the filter details, and how it should be formatted. You can define how to display the operators within filter details (as text or as symbols), how to display unanswered prompts, and many other formatting properties.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Report Details Properties 161

For example, the image below shows a report with custom-formatted Report Details. The panel shows the prompt details, filter details, and template details with some custom formatting:

Custom-Formatted Report Details

To configure report details properties:

1 Run a report.

2 On the Format menu, select Report Details Properties.



3 In the Report Details Properties window, on the General tab, select the sections you want to display in Report Details and specify prompt-related details and formatting, as shown in the image below:

Report Details Properties—General Tab



4 On the Filter Details - Contents tab, enable filter-related details and formatting, as shown in the image below:

Report Details Properties—Filter Details - Contents Tab



5 On the Filter Details - Other tab, enable more filter-related details and formatting, as shown in the image below:

Report Details Properties—Filter Details - Other Tab



6 On the Template Details tab, enable template-related details and formatting, as shown below:

Report Details Properties—Template Details Tab

7 Click OK.


166 Linking in Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Linking in Reports


Create links in a report and access links to connect to other reports or documents.

A link is a connection in a report to another report or document. A link allows you to connect from one report, known as the source, to another report or document, known as the target.

By clicking on a link, you can open the target report in the original window or request a new window.

For example, you can link a report displaying customer region by revenue to another report displaying employee region by profit to compare sales data between the two reports.

The source and the target report or document must be created before creating the links.

Adding a link to a report:

1 Run the report to which you want to add a link.

2 Right-click the attribute or metric header, and select Edit Links.

3 Click New to create a new link, or skip to the next step if this is the first link you are creating for this report.

4 In the Url display text box, type a name for the link.

5 Under the Run this report or document box, click Browse, and select the target report or document.

If your selected target report or document contains prompts, they will be listed beneath the name of the target.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Linking in Reports 167

6 From this list of prompts, select a target prompt.

7 In the drop-down list, select a prompt answer method:

– Answer with the same prompt from the source—You can select this option if you want to use the same prompt answers for both the source report and the target report or document.

This option will only work when the source and target use the same prompt.

– Do not answer this prompt—You can select this option if you want to provide prompt answers to the target report or document after you run them. You can type your prompt answers manually if you select this option. For example, prompt X requires for you to type a customer age, and instead of having to choose the age number from a list, you can type the number in the prompt answer box.

– Answer with an empty answer—You can select this option if you do not want to answer or be prompted to provide answers for the target prompt.

– Use Default Answer—You can select this option if you want the target prompt to use the same default answer as it does in the target report or document.

8 Select the Open in new window check box to have the target open in a new window.

This allows the target and the source to be visible simultaneously.


168 Linking in Reports © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

9 Click OK to return to the source report and to save your link.

Links Editor

Accessing the target from your link:

1 Right-click the object for which you created the link.

2 Point to Links.

3 Click the link you created.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Linking in Reports 169

The target opens.

Created Link



Exercises


Advanced Report Design

Overview

In this exercise, you will run the Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report you created earlier. You will then modify the report by adding objects to the template from the All Objects pane of the Object Browser. You will also remove objects from the grid and from the report.



Your final report results will look like the following:



Run a report

1 On the project home page, click My Reports.



2 Click the Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report to run it.

View the Object Browser

3 To display the object browser, in the report results window, on the Tools menu, select All Objects.

Add objects to the template from the All Objects pane

4 Click the Attributes shortcut.


6 Drag and drop Region from the All Objects pane onto the template to right of Subcategory.

7 Right-click Call Center, and select Add to Grid.

8 In the drop-down list, select Metrics.


10 Drag and drop Cost from the All Objects pane onto the template to the right of Profit.



Remove objects from the grid

12 In the Object Browser, click the Report Objects pane.

You should see a total of four attributes and four metrics in the Report Object tab.

13 Drag and drop Call Center from the template to the Report Objects pane.

14 Right-click Units Sold, and select Remove from Grid.

Both Call Center and Units Sold no longer appear on the template, but they both remain in the Report Objects pane.



Remove objects from the report

15 Right-click Profit, and select Remove from Report.

Profit no longer appears on the template or in the Report Objects pane.

16 Right-click Subcategory, and select Remove from Report.


Save the report


19 In the Save As window, click OK.

20 In the Confirm Overwrite window, click Yes to overwrite the old report definition with the new one.

21 In the Report Saved window, click Run newly saved report.

22 Keep the report open to answer the following questions.




1 Looking at your Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report, in the Object Browser, in the Report Objects pane, why do Call Center and Units Sold appear in black text as opposed to grey text, like the other objects?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Both Call Center and Units Sold appear in black text because while both objects are part of the report (i.e. they will be retrieved from the data warehouse when the report is run), they are not currently displayed on the template. All of the objects in grey text are already on the template.

2 What is the difference between adding objects to the template from the Report Objects pane and adding objects to the template from the All Objects pane?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Because the Report Objects pane displays the objects that are already part of the report definition, adding an object from the Report Objects pane to the template does not require new SQL to be generated or the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse. You are simply displaying data that is already part of the report. The All Objects pane allows you to navigate through the entire project, and when you add an object to the template from the All Objects pane (that is not already in the Report Objects pane), new SQL is generated and the report is re-executed against the data warehouse to retrieve the new data.



3 What if, in your Subcategory Revenue and Profit for 2008 report, you dragged Call Center from the All Objects pane onto the template. Would this manipulation require new SQL to be generated and the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: No, no new SQL would need to be generated nor would the report need to be re-executed against the data warehouse. Even though you are adding Call Center to the template from the All Objects pane, MicroStrategy Web recognizes that Call Center is already in the Report Objects pane, so it is already part of the report definition.

4 What is the difference between Remove from Grid and Remove from Report?

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

Answer: Remove from Grid removes an object from the template, but keeps it in the Report Objects pane, meaning it remains in the report definition. Removing objects from the grid does not require new SQL to be generated nor the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse. Remove from Report removes an object from the template and the Report Objects pane, meaning it is no longer part of the report definition. Removing objects from the report requires new SQL to be generated and the report to be re-executed against the data warehouse.



Lesson Summary


• To display the All Objects pane in the report results window

– You can add and remove objects to and from your report without having to use Design View

• To disable the drilling feature on reports

• To configure the Report Details properties

• To add links to your reports enabling you to connect to other reports or documents


6ADVANCED REPORT FORMATTING IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

You already know how to format both grid and graph reports. This lesson describes the more advanced report formatting features available to you as a Web Professional. This lesson describes how to perform these formatting manipulations that enable you to change the look and feel of a report in MicroStrategy Web.

Advanced Report Formatting in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals6


Lesson Objectives


Apply advanced formatting to grid and graph reports.


• Apply advanced formatting to grid reports. (Page 179)

• Apply advanced formatting to graph reports. (Page 195)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Advanced Report Formatting in MicroStrategy Web 6

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Advanced Grid Formatting 179

Advanced Grid Formatting


Apply advanced formatting to grid reports.

Formatting is a powerful feature of MicroStrategy Web. There are two methods by which you can define custom formatting for a grid report. However, in Web Professional, you have access to more formatting options using these two methods:

• Formatting toolbar

• Format Template window

Using the Formatting Toolbar

The Formatting toolbar gives you quick access to grid formatting options, such as font, size, alignment, number display, color, and borders when you are viewing a grid report. You can use the Formatting toolbar to format all objects on the Row Axis or Column Axis, all metrics, or individual objects.

Formatting Toolbar

The Formatting toolbar is also available in Web Analyst. For more information on using the Formatting toolbar, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course.


180 Advanced Grid Formatting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Using the Advanced Formatting Option

The Advanced Formatting option opens the Format Template window, which contains four tabs: Font, Number, Alignment, and Color and Lines. Each tab gives you access to several grid formatting options.

The Advanced Formatting option is also available in Web Analyst, but only the Number tab is enabled.

Format Template Window

Before you make your formatting selections, you first need to select the area of your grid you want to format. If the Format Template window, on the first drop-down list, you have the following choices:

• Grid Borders—Brings you to the Colors and Lines tab.

• All Grid Cells—Formats all objects on the report grid.

• Row Axis—Formats all objects on the row axis of the report grid.

• Column Axis—Formats all objects on the column axis of the report grid.

• All Metrics—Formats all metrics on the report grid.

• Individual Objects—Formats a specific object on the report grid.

Next, you use the second drop-down list to select the part of the specified area you want to format. The choices are listed below:

• All—Formats the header, values, subtotal names, and subtotal values of the specified area.

• Header—Formats only the headers of the specified area.



• Values—Formats only the individual values of the specified area.

• Subtotal Names—Formats only the names of subtotals of the specified area.

• Subtotal Values—Formats only the individual subtotal values of the specified area.

The options found in the second drop-down list change depending on what you select in the first drop-down list.

Once you have determined what part of the grid you are going to format, you can make your formatting selections from the four available tabs:

• Font tab—Select the desired font, style, size, effects, and text color.

The Sample window gives you a preview of the text based on your settings.

Format Template Window—Font Tab

• Number tab—Select the appropriate category for numeric values.



The options available on the Number tab may vary depending on your selections in the drop-down lists and the Category you have selected. The Number tab is also available in Web Analyst.

Format Template Window—Number Tab



• Alignment tab—Select horizontal and vertical alignments as well as whether or not you want to allow word wrapping. In addition, you can add padding to cells and vertically rotate text.

Format Template Window—Alignment Tab



• Colors and Lines tab—Select fill color, border style, and border color.

Format Template Window—Color and Lines Tab

To format a grid using the Advanced Formatting option:

1 In the report results window of the grid report, do one of the following:

On the Format menu, select Advanced Formatting.

OR

On the template, right-click an object header, and select Advanced formatting.

2 In the Format Template window, in the first drop-down list, select the area of the grid you want to format.

3 In the second drop-down list, select the part of the specified area you want to format.



4 Click the appropriate tab and choose your formatting.

5 When you have made all of your formatting selections, click OK to apply your settings to the grid report and to close the Format Template window.

Click Apply to apply your formatting selections to the grid report and to keep the Format Template window open.

Using the Advanced Thresholds Editor

Thresholds are conditional formats based on metric values. By including thresholds in a report, you emphasize data that meets certain criteria and you make the report easier to read, as shown below:

Thresholds in MicroStrategy Web Reports

All types of MicroStrategy Web users can view thresholds on reports. However, only Web Professionals can use the Advanced Thresholds Editor to define them. As compared to the Visual Thresholds Editor (which is accessible to Web Analysts), the Advanced Thresholds Editor provides more formatting options.



To define thresholds in the Advanced Thresholds Editor:

1 Run any report in Grid view.

2 To open the Advanced Thresholds Editor, do one of the following:

On the Data menu, select Advanced Thresholds Editor.

OR

On the Data toolbar, click Advanced Thresholds Editor, as shown below:

Advanced Threshold Editor Button in the Data Toolbar

OR

Right-click a metric, select Thresholds and select Advanced.

3 In the Advanced Threshold Editor, select the metric to which you want to apply the threshold.

4 In the Filter On drop-down list, select the object on which you want to define the condition:

Condition Definition Pane

You can define multiple conditions.

If you qualify on an attribute, you can qualify on its attribute forms or you can select elements to include or exclude from a list.

If you qualify on a metric, you must define an operator and a value or another metric to compare against the original metric.

5 After you define the threshold condition, click Apply.



6 If you want to define additional thresholds, click New.

7 If you want to define another threshold based on highest or lowest percent or metric values, click the arrow next to the New button to view quick threshold options, as shown below:

Quick Threshold Options - Advanced Threshold Editor

After you select one of these options, you can continue defining the condition by typing the desired value (highest five, for example), defining formatting, and so on.

The Advanced Thresholds Editor toolbar contains some functions that make it easy to work with thresholds:

Advanced Thresholds Editor Toolbar:

Advanced Thresholds Editor Toolbar Functions

Button Function

Add new threshold

Copy

Paste

Delete a single threshold

Delete all thresholds



8 On the toolbar, click Cell formatting to open the Format window and to define a specific format for your condition.

9 Click OK to close the windows and view the thresholds on your report.

Move up and move down (to change the order of conditions when you have multiple conditions)

Add a new condition

Remove all conditions

Edit the threshold formatting

Apply a background color to a graph threshold

Apply threshold to metric values only

Apply threshold to subtotal values only

Apply threshold to metric and subtotal values

Create alerts (only with Distribution Services)

Advanced Thresholds Editor Toolbar Functions

Button Function



Resizing Columns and Rows

Another option under the Format menu is Resize Columns and Rows, which allows you to set custom column widths and row heights for your grid.

Resize Columns and Rows Window

The options available to you for resizing columns are described below:

• Auto Fit to Window—Causes the columns of the grid to span the entire width of the browser window. You can also enable this option by clicking Auto Fit to Window on the report toolbar.

• Auto Fit to Contents—Causes the columns of the grid to be as narrow as possible, given the data within them. This option is selected by default. You can also enable this option by clicking Auto Fit to Contents on the report toolbar.

• Fixed—Causes the column selected in the drop-down list to be as wide, in inches, as the value you type in the Width box.



You can use this option to set fixed column widths for all columns, individual columns, or column axis headers.

The options available to you for resizing rows are described below:

• Auto Fit to Contents—Causes the rows of the grid to be as short as possible, given the data within them. This option is selected by default.

• Fixed Height—Causes the rows of the grid to be as tall, in inches, as the value you type in the Fixed Height box.

To use the Resize Columns and Rows option:

1 In the report results view of a grid report, on the Format menu, select Resize Columns and Rows.

2 In the Resize Columns and Rows window, under Columns, select your desired option for column widths.

Your selection is immediately applied to the columns in the report grid.

3 Under Rows, select your desired option for row heights.

Your selection is immediately applied to the rows in the report grid.

4 Click OK.



Removing the Metrics Column

In addition to removing the extra metrics column from the report when you export it, you can also remove it from the grid view of the report when you run it in MicroStrategy Web, as shown below.

Removing the Metrics Column in Grid View - Disabled

Removing the Metrics Column in Grid View - Enabled



To remove the Metrics column in Grid view:

1 Open the report in Grid view.

2 On the Tools menu, select Report Options.

3 In the Report Options window, on the General tab, under View, enable the Remove extra column check box, as shown below:

Report Options Window

4 Click OK.



Displaying Vertical Text

The following report shows a metric header with vertical text and custom grid cell padding:

Vertical Text in a Grid

Vertical text is not supported in the Mozilla Firefox Web browser.

To display vertical text in a grid report:

1 Run any grid report.

2 On the Format menu, select Advanced Formatting.

3 In the Format Template window, in the drop-down lists, select the object you want to format.

4 Click the Alignment tab.



5 On the Alignment tab, under Text Control, in the Text Direction drop-down list, select -90 Degrees to display text vertically.

6 Under Padding, type values for grid cell padding as desired.

An example is shown below:

Vertical Text and Custom Cell Padding

7 Click OK.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Advanced Graph Formatting 195

Advanced Graph Formatting


Apply advanced formatting to graph reports.

In addition to having access to advanced formatting options for grid reports, you also have access to advanced formatting options for graph reports. Again, there are two methods by which you can define formatting for a graph, and you are already familiar with both of them. In Web Professional, however, you have access to additional settings with the Graph option.

Using Graph Design Mode

Web Professionals can format graphs using Graph Design Mode. This display mode enables you to design a graph more easily by dragging objects into specific zones. The Categories, Series, and Metrics zones give a better preview of a graph’s display. You can edit the graph’s contents without having to see its underlying template. Furthermore, Graph Design Mode lets you see the graph template and report filter all on one page.


196 Advanced Graph Formatting © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

The following image shows the contents of a graph in Graph Design Mode:

Graph Design Mode

You can drag attributes and metrics from the Object Browser directly into the Categories, Series, or Metrics zones. You can also edit the report filter from this mode.

Using the Graph Toolbar

The Graph toolbar gives you quick access to graph formatting options, such as graph type and subtype, legend and data values display, series by row or column, and maximum categories and series when you are viewing a graph report.

Graph Toolbar



Upon editing the Categories or Series values, simply click Apply to apply the changes to the graph report.

The Graph toolbar is also available in Web Analyst. For more information on using the Graph toolbar, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course.

Using the Graph Option

When viewing a graph report, you can also set formatting properties using the Format Graph window, which contains five formatting categories: General, Format, Number, Axes, and Advanced. Each tab gives you access to several graph formatting options.

If you are formatting a gauge graph, the Options category is also available.

Format Graph Window

To format a graph using the Graph option:

1 In the report results window of the graph, on the Format menu, select Graph.

2 On the Format Graph window, select the appropriate category and choose your formatting.



3 When you have made all of your formatting selections, click OK to apply your settings to the graph report and to close the Format Graph window.

Click Apply to apply your formatting selections to the grid report and to keep the Format Graph window open.



Format Graph Window

The Format Graph window contains the following categories:

• General—With Web Professional you can set font and line resizing to absolute or relative, apply a rounded effect to all series, and decide whether or not you want to show subtotals on the graph.

The General tab is also available in Web Analyst, but only contains a subset of the features available in Web Professional.

Format Graph Window—General

• Format—Before you apply any formatting, you must first select the area of the graph you want to format. Then you can select the desired font, style, size, effects, and text color.



You will learn more about the Format options later in this lesson.

Format Graph Window—Format



• Number—You can apply formatting to numbers on a graph. You can apply the formatting to any numeric values present on the graph.

Format Graph Window—Number

• Axes—You can set the maximum value, minimum value, and grid interval for the Y1 axis by selecting the appropriate check box and typing a value in the corresponding box.

Format Graph Window—Axes



• Advanced—You can define various graph visuals, such as how text and lines are resized, subtotal display, metric area display, and series display.

Format Graph Window—Advanced



• Options—If you are formatting a gauge graph, the Options tab will be visible and you can set the gauge style, needle style, border style, border thickness, range thickness, start angle, and stop angle.

Format Graph Window—Options

Using the Format Category

The Format category behaves differently than the other category options in the Format Graph window. Before you make your formatting selections, you first need to select the area of the graph you want to format. In the Format Graph window, for the Format category, you have two drop-down lists with the following options:



• Format—Select this to format the graph and text within the graph. Following are the options available with the Format drop-down list:

– All Text—Format all text within a graph at the same time

– Background—Change the color of the graph background

– Frame—Change the color of the frame and frame background

– Legend—Choose whether or not to display the legend, change the text and color of the legend text

This selection has a “Show” check box. To display the legend, select the Show check box. In addition, if the Show check box is selected, a drop-down list is displayed for you to choose the position of the legend: right, left, or bottom.

– Legend Area—Change the background color of the legend

– Gauge—Change the color of the gauge

This selection is only available for gauge graphs.



• Titles—Select this to format and display a title in any of the following title positions:

– All Titles—Format all titles available in the drop-down list at the same time

– Title—Format graph title, which is displayed above the graph

– Subtitle—Format subtitle, which is displayed right below the Title

– Footnote—Format the footnote, which is displayed below the graph. By default, the Footnote is the report’s creation date and time.

– Category Axis Title—Format the category axis title (bottom)

– Y1 Axis Title—Format Y axis title (left)

– Y2 Axis Title—Format the Y2 axis title, if applicable

Some of these selections have a “Show” check box. To display the selected title, select the Show check box. In addition, if the Show check box is selected, a box is displayed for you to type the title.

In the box, type your own text. Use a dynamic graph title variable for the graph title text. Graph title variables automatically generate a title each time the report is run. There are 11 graph title variables to choose from:

– {&REPORTNAME}—Displays report name.

– {&REPORTDESCRIPTION}—Displays report description as displayed in the Properties window.

– {&CREATIONDATE}—Displays the date the report was created.

– {&CREATIONTIME}—Displays the time the report was created.



– {&PROJECT}—Displays project in which the report is stored.

– {&USER}—Displays the full name of the user executing the report.

– {&PROMPTn&}—Displays user’s answers to prompts in the report, where n is the number of the prompt in order. For example, {&PROMPT2&} will display the answer to the second prompt.

– {&PROMPTDETAILS}—Displays all prompt answers for the report.

– {&EXECUTIONTIME}—Displays the date and time the report was executed.

– {&FILTERDETAILS}—Displays the report filter and report limit.

– {&PAGEBYDETAILS}—Displays current attribute elements selected in the page-by.

You can rest your mouse over the information button to the right of the box to see this list of variables, as shown below:

Dynamic Graph Title Variables



• Axes—Select this to format the axes values within the graph. You may choose from the following:

– All Axes—Format all axes at one time

– Category Axis Values—Format the values displayed on the Category Axis (bottom)

– Y1 Axis Values—Format the values displayed on the Y1 Axis (left)

– Y2 Axis Values—Format the values displayed on the Y2 Axis, if applicable

Some of these selections have a “Show” check box. To display the selected axes values, select the Show check box.

• Series Colors—Select this to change the colors on the series of a graph. The options available in the right drop-down list depend on the graph type and report data.

• Series Values—Select this to format and display all series values. The options available in the right drop-down list depend on the graph type and report data.

Some of these selections have a “Show” check box. To display the selected value, select the Show check box.



Advanced Color Palette and Gradients in Graphs

You can apply custom colors to the fill background of a graph, the lines, or the fonts. You can also specify gradients to your bar graphs or fill backgrounds. In the example shown below, the bar risers use a custom color and a diagonal gradient:

Custom-Formatted Graph

To apply custom colors to graph backgrounds, lines, or fonts:

1 Open a graph report.

2 On the Format menu, select Graph.

3 In the Format Graph window, select the Format category.

4 In the drop-down lists, select the objects you want to format.

5 In the Color drop-down list, select More colors.

6 In the Advanced Color Picker, select a custom color.

7 Click OK to close the Advanced Color Picker.

8 Click OK to close the Format Graph window.



To apply gradients to graph bars, pie slices, fill backgrounds, and so forth:

1 Open a graph report.

2 On the Format menu, select Graph.

3 In the Format Graph window, select the Format category.

4 In the drop-down lists, select the objects you want to format.

5 Under Fill, in the Color drop-down list, select Gradients.

6 In the Gradients window, under Colors, select colors for Color 1 and Color 2.

7 Under Shading Styles, select the desired style.

8 Click OK to close the Gradients window.

9 Click OK to close the Format Graph window.



Support for Dual-Axis Graphs

Like Desktop users, MicroStrategy Web users can view dual-axis graphs. In the example shown below, the graph displays one axis for Profit values and another axis for Units Sold values:

Dual-Axis Graph



Exercises


Advanced Thresholds Editor

Overview

In this exercise, you will use the Advanced Thresholds Editor to apply thresholds to a metric within a report. When you complete the exercise, your report should resemble the following image:




1 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Supplier Analysis folder, run the Supplier Sales Report.

2 On the Data menu, select Advanced Thresholds Editor (or on the Data toolbar, click Advanced Thresholds Editor).

3 In the Advanced Thresholds Editor, in the drop-down list, select Revenue Growth.

4 Select Click here to add a new threshold.

If you receive a MicroStrategy Web message, click OK.

5 In the Filter On drop-down list, select Revenue Growth.

6 In the operator drop-down list, select Less than.

7 For the value, use 0.

8 Click Apply.

9 Click Cell formatting.

10 Name the threshold, Negative Revenue Growth.

11 Select the Replace Data check box.

12 In the drop-down list, keep Replace Text, and type Negative Growth as the replacement text.

13 On the Font tab, under Color, select Red.

14 On the Alignment tab, under Text Alignment, for Horizontal, select Center.



15 Click OK.

16 Click OK to close the Advanced Thresholds Editor.


18 Save the report to My Reports, naming it Supplier Sales Report with Thresholds.

Advanced Grid Formatting

Overview

In this exercise, you will run the Movies and Music Revenue and Profit for 2008 report you created earlier. You will then use the advanced formatting features to customize the report grid.

Your final report result will look like the following:





Run a report

1 On the project home page, click My Reports.

2 Click the Movies and Music Revenue and Profit for 2008 report to run it.

Define custom formatting for a report grid

3 In the report results window, on the Format menu, select Advanced Formatting.

4 In the Format Template window, in the first drop-down list, select All Grid Cells.

5 In the second drop-down list, select Header.

6 On the Font tab, change the Color to Yellow.

7 Click the Color and Lines tab.

8 Under Fill, change the Color to Dark Blue.

9 Click Apply.

10 In the Format Template window, in the first drop-down list, select All Metrics.

11 In the second drop-down list, select Header.

12 On the Color and Lines tab, under Fill, change the Color to Dark Blue.

13 Click the Font tab.

14 Change the Color to Yellow

15 Click Apply.

16 In the Format Template window, in the first drop-down list, keep All Metrics selected.

17 In the second drop-down list, select Values.



18 On the Font tab, change the Color to Dark Blue.

19 Click the Number tab.

20 Select Currency and set Decimal places to 2 and set Currency Position to Left with space.

21 Click the Colors and Lines tab.

22 Under Fill, change the Color to Yellow.

23 Click Apply.

24 In the Format Template window, in the first drop-down list, select Row Axis.

25 In the second drop-down list, keep Values selected.

26 On the Colors and Lines tab, under Fill, change the Color to Yellow.


Save the report


29 In the Save As window, click OK.

30 In the Confirm Overwrite window, click Yes to overwrite the old report definition with the new one.

31 In the Report Saved window, click Run newly saved report to see that your custom formatting has been saved to the report definition.



Graph Design Mode

Overview

In this exercise, you will use Graph Design Mode to apply formatting to a graph report. When you complete the exercise, your graph should resemble the following image:


1 In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\Advanced Reporting Guide folder, run 01 Basic Report.

2 On the Home toolbar, Graph.

3 Click Design.

Use the Graph Mode Design Zones

4 In the Categories zone, drag Region to the page-by axis.

5 Change the Graph Type to Vertical bar.

6 Change the Graph Sub-type to Stacked.



7 Under the Metrics zone, pivot Profit above Cost.

8 Run the report.

Apply a custom color to a bar series

9 Right-click any of the Cost bars, point to Fill, and select More Colors.

10 In the Advanced Color Picker, select any greenish hue.

11 Click OK.

Define number formatting for the axis labels

12 Right-click any of the Y-axis data labels, and select Format.

13 In the Format Graph window, select the Number category.

14 For Targets, change the number format for Y Axis Values to Currency, with 0 decimal places.

15 Click OK.

16 Save the report to My Reports, naming it Graph Formatting Example.


Advanced Graph Formatting

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a new report with Country, Quarter, and Profit on the template. From the initial grid report, you will switch to graph view. You will then increase the maximum number of series and add titles to the graph to make it more legible.



The final graph will look like the following:



Create a report


2 On the Create Report page, make sure the View report in Design Mode check box is selected.


Define the template



6 Double-click Country.

7 Click Up One Level.




9 Drag and drop Quarter into the columns of the template definition window.

10 In the Object Browser, in the drop-down list, select Metrics.


12 Drag and drop Profit into the columns of the template definition window below Quarter.

Add a report filter

13 In the Object Browser, in the drop-down list, select Attributes.


15 Right-click Year, and select Add to Filter.

16 Select Select.

17 In the Available list, while holding down the SHIFT key on the keyboard, highlight 2008 and 2009.


19 Click Apply.

Run the report

20 In Design Mode, click Run Report.



Your report results are as follows:

Switch to graph view

21 In the report results window, on the View menu, select Graph.

The initial graph looks like the following:

Increase maximum number of series

22 In the report results window, on the Format menu, select Graph.

23 In the Format Graph window, select the General category.

24 Under Maximum, change Series to 8.

Add titles to the graph

25 Click the Format category.

26 In the first drop-down list, select Titles.

27 In the second drop-down list, select Title.



28 In the box to the right of the Show check box, type Quarterly Profit.

29 Change Size to 12.

30 Under Effects, select the Underline check box.

31 Click Apply.

32 In the first drop-down list, select Series Values.

33 In the second drop-down list, select All Data Values.

34 Select the Show check box.

35 In the first drop-down list, select Titles.

36 In the second drop-down list, select Category Axis Title.

37 Select the Show check box.

38 In the box to the right of the Show check box, type Country.

39 For Style, select Bold.

40 Click OK.


Save the report

42 In the report results window, on the Home menu, select Save As.


43 Name the report Quarterly Profit by Country.


45 Click OK.



Lesson Summary


• To apply advanced formatting options to grids using the formatting toolbar and the Format Template window

• To use the Advanced Threshold Editor

• To resize columns and rows

• To remove the Metrics column

• To display vertical text

• To apply advanced formatting options to graphs using design mode, the formatting toolbar, and the Format Graph window


7OLAP SERVICES IN MICROSTRATEGY WEB

Lesson Description

You already know how to use OLAP Services features in MicroStrategy Web. This lesson describes the more advanced OLAP Services features available to you as a MicroStrategy Professional, including transformation shortcut metrics, Intelligent Cubes, and derived elements.

OLAP Services in MicroStrategy Web MicroStrategy Web for Professionals7


Lesson Objectives


Describe and use the advanced OLAP Services features in MicroStrategy Web.


• Describe and create transformation shortcut metrics. (Page 225)

• Publish an Intelligent Cube and create reports based on Intelligent Cubes. (Page 228)

• Save derived elements as standalone objects and use derived element objects in reports. (Page 230)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals OLAP Services in MicroStrategy Web 7

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Transformation Shortcut Metrics 225

Transformation Shortcut Metrics


Describe and create transformation shortcut metrics.

As you know, you have the ability to add derived metrics to a report. Derived metrics are created using existing metrics already in a report, and as such, they are local to the report in which they are added. In other words, you cannot use a derived metric you added to a report in another report.

You can create derived metrics by defining a new metric using the Insert New Metric window, or you can add shortcut metrics that calculate percent to total and rank using the right-click menu.

For more information on creating derived metrics with the Insert New Metric window or adding percent to total and rank shortcut metrics, see the MicroStrategy Web for Reporters and Analysts course.

In Web Professional, you can also add transformation shortcut metrics. Transformation shortcut metrics calculate a specific time period’s metric values, such as last year’s or month to date. For example, if a report displays revenue values for 2008, you can add a transformation shortcut metric that calculates last year’s (2007) revenue values.

The transformations that are available when adding transformation shortcut metrics are created by a project designer using MicroStrategy Architect. For information on creating transformations, see the MicroStrategy Architect: Project Design Essentials course.

After you choose a transformation, you then select one of the following transformation types:

• Normal—Calculates the transformation time period’s metric values.


226 Transformation Shortcut Metrics © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

• Variance—Calculates the difference between the current metric values on the report and the transformation time period’s metric values.

• Variance Percentage—Calculates the percent difference between the current metric values on the report and the transformation time period’s metric values.

The report below displays all three types of shortcut transformation metrics: Normal, Variance, and Variance Percentage. All three shortcut transformation metrics are based on the Revenue metric and use the Last Year’s transformation.

Three Types of Shortcut Transformation Metrics

Format transformation shortcut metrics like you would any other metric on a report.

To add a transformation shortcut metric to a report:

1 In the report results window or Design Mode, right-click the metric on which you want to base the transformation shortcut metric, point to Insert Metric, and select Transformation.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Transformation Shortcut Metrics 227

2 Select the transformation you want to apply to the shortcut metric.

Available Transformations Menu

3 Select the type of transformation shortcut metric you want to add.

Transformation Type Menu


228 Report Creation from Intelligent Cubes © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Report Creation from Intelligent Cubes


Publish an Intelligent Cube and create reports based on Intelligent Cubes.

As you may recall, OLAP Services is an add-on component to MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that enables report developers to create Intelligent Cubes.

Intelligent Cubes enable you to add or remove report objects from the report view without generating new SQL. This ability to add and remove objects from the report display without affecting the underlying report definition enables you to create reports that have any number of possible report views. You can manipulate report views without needing to query the data warehouse except when information is required that is not part of the report definition. MicroStrategy OLAP Services also enables you use view filters and derived metrics within the Intelligent Cube.

Report developers working in MicroStrategy Desktop can create standard reports and convert them into Intelligent Cubes. Intelligent Cubes have their own unique icon, as shown below:

Intelligent Cube Icon

When a report developer creates and saves an Intelligent Cube, Web Professionals can execute (or “publish”) the Intelligent Cube in MicroStrategy Web. They can also create Intelligent Cube reports based on the Intelligent Cube.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Report Creation from Intelligent Cubes 229

To execute (publish) an Intelligent Cube in MicroStrategy Web:

1 Locate the saved Intelligent Cube (as created and saved in Desktop) and run it.

MicroStrategy Web displays the following message to indicate that the Intelligent Cube has been successfully published:

Intelligent Cube Message

To create a report in MicroStrategy Web based on an existing Intelligent Cube:

1 On the project home page, click Create Report.

2 In the Create Report page, under the Blank Report options, click Intelligent Cube Report.

3 Locate desired Intelligent Cube, and click OK.

4 Drag objects from the Report Objects pane into the template and view filter panes.

5 Save as a new report.


230 Derived Elements © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Derived Elements


Save derived elements as standalone objects and use derived element objects in reports.

Derived elements are an OLAP Services feature that enable users to create custom groupings of data elements. As you learned previously, to create derived elements, you must have Web Analyst privileges and you must work within a view report based on an Intelligent Cube. While Web Analysts have the ability to define, modify, or delete derived elements, Web Professionals possess the additional privileges to save derived elements as standalone objects and to reuse them across reports.

To save a derived element as a standalone object:

1 Open a report that contains derived elements.

2 Right-click the attribute on which the derived elements are based, and select Derived Elements.

3 In the Derived Elements Editor, on the toolbar, click Save Derived Elements.

4 In the Save as window, name and save the derived element to a desired folder.

5 Click OK.

When you browse through folders in MicroStrategy Web, you will not see derived elements the way you see reports and other objects. To view a saved derived element, you must first open the Derived Elements Editor and then browse to the folder that stores it, as described in the procedure below.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Derived Elements 231

To insert a saved, standalone derived element into a view report:

1 Run a report that is based on an Intelligent Cube (an Intelligent Cube report) and that contains the attribute on which the reusable derived elements are based.

2 Right-click the attribute, and select Derived Elements.

3 In the Derived Elements Editor, on the toolbar, click Link Derived Elements, as shown below:

Derived Elements Editor—Link Derived Elements Button

4 In the Import Groups window, locate the saved derived element, and click OK.

You can only insert standalone derived elements that are based on an attribute that exists within your view report.



Exercises


Creating Reports from Intelligent Cubes

Overview

In this exercise, you will create a report from an Intelligent Cube. When you complete the exercise, your Intelligent Cube report should resemble the following image:


1 Publish the Intelligent Cube- Time, Products, Geography - Sales Metrics Intelligent Cube located in the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy OLAP Services\Intelligent Cubes and View Reports folder.



2 On the project home page, click Create Report.

3 On the Create Report page, under Blank Report, select Intelligent Cube Report.

4 In Select Intelligent Cube Report, browse to the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy OLAP Services\Intelligent Cubes and View Reports folder.

5 Select Intelligent Cube- Time, Products, Geography - Sales Metrics.

6 Click OK.

7 Place Region and Category on the rows of the template.

8 Place Year and Units Sold on the columns.

9 Run the report.


11 Save to My Reports, naming it Intelligent Cube Report.

12 Run the newly saved report.

You still have access to all of the objects in the Intelligent Cube.



Saving and Reusing Derived Elements

Overview

In this exercise, you will save and reuse a derived element. When you complete the exercise, the report on which you reuse your saved derived elements should resemble the following image:


1 With the report from the previous exercise (Intelligent Cube Report) open, hold the CTRL key, and select the South, Southeast, and Southwest data rows.

Click any white space around these rows. If you select the data element directly, you drill down to Call Center.

2 Right-click, and select Create Group.

3 In the Create Group window, name the group All South.

4 Click OK.

5 Holding the CTRL key, select Northeast and Northwest.



6 Right-click, and select Create Group.

7 In the Create Group window, name the group All North.

8 Click OK.

9 In Object Browser, in Report Objects, right-click Region, and select Derived Elements.

10 In the Derived Elements Editor, review your derived element groupings, and click Save Derived Elements on the toolbar.

11 Save the derived element to My Reports, naming it Custom Regions.

12 Click OK twice to return to the report.

13 Save the report to My Reports as Intelligent Cube Report with Derived Elements.

Reuse Saved Derived Elements

14 In the Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\MicroStrategy OLAP Services\Intelligent Cubes and View Reports folder, run View Report - Revenue by Region and Month.

15 In the Object Browser, in Report Objects, right-click Region, and select Derived Elements.

16 In the Derived Elements Editor, click Link Derived Elements as shown below:

17 In the Import Groups window, browse to My Reports, select the Custom Regions derived element, and click OK.



The Derived Elements Editor should display the saved derived element groupings, as shown below:

18 Click OK.

19 On the page-by axis, in the Region drop-down list, select All North and observe the results.

20 Close the report without saving it.



Lesson Summary


• To create transformation shortcut metrics

• To select the appropriate type of transformation:

• Normal

• Variance

• Variance Percentage

• To publish an Intelligent Cube

• To create reports based on Intelligent Cubes

• To save derived elements as standalone objects

• To use derived element objects in reports


8ADVANCED DISTRIBUTION SERVICES

Lesson Description

You already know how to use Distribution Services features in MicroStrategy Web. This lesson describes the Distribution Services features only available to you as a MicroStrategy Professional, including adding other users and contacts to subscriptions and alerts.

Advanced Distribution Services MicroStrategy Web for Professionals8


Lesson Objectives


Use the advanced Distribution Services features available to Web Professionals.


• Subscribe other users and contacts to subscriptions and alerts. (Page 241)

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Advanced Distribution Services 8

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Subscribing Other Users and Contacts 241

Subscribing Other Users and Contacts


Subscribe other users and contacts to subscriptions and alerts.

Web Professionals have the ability not only to create subscriptions for themselves, but also to subscribe other users to all types of subscriptions and alerts. They do this by adding multiple users or contacts to the subscription.

Users are application objects that exist in MicroStrategy metadata. Each user can be associated with any number of e-mail, file, and printer addresses. Contacts are standalone e-mail, file, or printer addresses. For more information on users and contacts, see the System Administration Guide product manual.

With the appropriate MicroStrategy Web privileges, you can subscribe other users to receive reports and documents to their History Lists. If you have Distribution Services privileges, you can subscribe other users to receive reports and documents by e-mail, to file location, or to a printer.

When you subscribe other users to a report or document, you can grant them different privileges to the subscription. You can permit the subscribers to do any of the following:

• Change personalization (prompt answers)

• Modify subscription options such as a schedule or delivery format

• Unsubscribe themselves from the subscription


242 Subscribing Other Users and Contacts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

In the example shown below, a Web Professional user subscribes a Web Reporter user to receive the Call Center Timeliness report to his History List on the Books Closed schedule:

Subscribing Another User to a History List Subscription

After you complete the subscription, its information displays in your My Subscriptions page as well as the recipient’s My Subscriptions page. Depending on the privileges that you grant the recipients of the subscription, different action icons display next to the subscription information. For example, the recipient of the following subscription was not granted any privileges during the subscription creation (as shown above):

My Subscriptions for a User Who Cannot Make Changes

In the image above, the Edit and Personalization icons, as well as the Unsubscribe check box, do not display for this subscription.


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Subscribing Other Users and Contacts 243

To subscribe other users to a History List subscription:

You must have the “Web subscribe others” privilege, which Web Professionals posses by default. Furthermore, if you want to subscribe others to receive e-mail, file, or print deliveries, you must have the appropriate Distribution Services privileges.

1 Run the report to which you want to subscribe other users.

2 On the Home menu, point to Subscribe to, and select History List.

3 In the Schedule drop-down list, choose a desired schedule.

4 Click To.

5 In the Recipients Browser window, select the recipient and move their name to the To pane.

6 Click OK.

7 Select the Run subscription immediately check box, if desired.

8 Expand Advanced Options and enable the recipient subscription control options as desired.

9 If desired, under Delivery Notification, select the Send notification to email address check box.

10 Click OK.


244 Subscribing Other Users and Contacts © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

When you view the subscription in your My Subscriptions page, you should see that there are multiple recipients listed, as shown in the example below:

My Subscriptions for Web Professional



Exercises


Subscribing Another User to a History List Subscription

Overview

In this exercise, you will subscribe another user to a History List subscription. When you complete the exercise, your My Subscriptions page should resemble the following image:

Depending on how you log in to MicroStrategy Web, the Owner and Recipients listed above may vary.




1 In the Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Sales and Profitability Analysis, locate Brand Performance by Region report, and click Subscriptions, as shown below:

If you see the folder contents in list view, click Subscriptions.

2 In the My Subscriptions page, under History List, click Add history list subscription.

3 On the Subscription page, in the Schedule drop-down list, select Monday Morning.

4 Click To.

5 In the Recipients Browser, select Business User, and click Add to Selections to move the user to the To pane.

6 Click OK.

7 On the Subscription page, select the Run subscription immediately check box.

8 Expand Advanced Options.

9 Select the Allow recipients to unsubscribe check box.

10 Click OK.

11 When you receive the message that the subscription was created successfully, click OK.

12 Click the My Subscriptions link at the top of the MicroStrategy Web interface.

On the subscription, under Recipient, Multiple is listed.



13 Log out of the project.

14 Log in to MicroStrategy Tutorial as BusinessUser (all one word) with no password.

15 Click My Subscriptions.

The History List Subscriptions should list the following:

16 Log out again.



Lesson Summary


• To subscribe other users and contacts to subscriptions and alerts

• Users can receive reports and documents:

– to the History List

– by e-mail

– to a file location

– to a printer

• You can permit the subscribers to do any of the following:

– Change personalization (prompt answers)

– Modify subscription options such as a schedule or delivery format

– Unsubscribe themselves from the subscription


AMICROSTRATEGY TUTORIAL

Appendix Description

This appendix provides information on the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, including the data model and physical warehouse schema.

MicroStrategy TutorialA

250 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, see 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 MicroStrategy 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.

MicroStrategy Tutorial A

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The MicroStrategy Tutorial Data Model 251

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:

• Geography

• Customers

• Time

• Products



Geography Hierarchy



Time Hierarchy


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema 255

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, see the Project Design Guide.


256 The MicroStrategy Tutorial Schema © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

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 MicroStrategy 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 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

Partition Mapping Table


BWEB PROFESSIONAL PRIVILEGES

Appendix Description

This appendix provides information on the MicroStrategy Web Professional, common, and Distribution Services privileges. Also included are user preferences.

Web Professional Privileges MicroStrategy Web for ProfessionalsB

266 Privilege Availability © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Privilege Availability

Privileges are available to be assigned to users or groups depending on whether the appropriate license has been purchased for a given product. A privilege is available if it is enabled in the User Editor, that is, if it can be checked off and is not greyed out. If you have not purchased a license for a particular product, that product’s privileges are greyed out in both the User Editor and the Security Role editor.

Certain privileges are marked with asterisks in the tables below, for the following reasons:

• Privileges marked with * are included only if you have OLAP Services installed as part of the Intelligence Server.

• Privileges marked with ** are included only if you have Report Services installed.

• Privileges marked with *** are included only if you have Distribution Services installed.

These privileges are unavailable (greyed out) in the User Editor if you do not have a license for the appropriate MicroStrategy product. To determine your license information, use License Manager to check whether OLAP Services, Report Services, or Distribution Services are available.

All MicroStrategy Web users that are licensed for MicroStrategy Report Services may view and interact with a document in Flash Mode. Certain interactions in Flash Mode have additional licensing requirements:

• Users are required to license MicroStrategy Web Analyst to pivot row or column position in a grid or cross-tabular grid of data in Flash Mode.

• Users are required to license MicroStrategy Web Professional to modify the properties of Widgets used in a document in Flash Mode.

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Web Professional Privileges B

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Web Professional Privileges 267

Web Professional Privileges

These privileges correspond to the report design functionality available in MicroStrategy Web, and are in addition to the common privileges. For more information, see “Common Privileges” starting on page 269. The predefined MicroStrategy Web Professional group is assigned these privileges by default. The Web Professional group also inherits all of the privileges assigned to the Web Reporter and Web Analyst groups. License Manager counts any user who has any of these privileges as a Web Professional user.


Privilege Allows the user to...

* Web define Intelligent Cube report

create a report that uses an Intelligent Cube as a data source

* Web publish Intelligent Cube

publish an Intelligent Cube to Intelligence Server

* Web save derived elements

save standalone derived elements, separate from the report

** Web create HTML container

create HTML container objects in a document

** Web document design

create a document page, access design mode for documents, and perform WYSIWYG editing of documents in view mode

Note: This privilege is required to define conditional formatting.

** Web manage document datasets

add datasets to and remove datasets from a Report Services document

Note: User must have Web document design privilege as well.

Web define advanced report options

set the available and default Run and Export modes for a report

Web define MDX cube report

define a new report that accesses an MDX cube, and see the MDX Cube option in the Create Report window

Web edit drilling and links

use the Link Editor


268 Web Professional Privileges © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Web format grid and graph

change the formats of grid and graph reports. In a grid report, the Format grid box is displayed; in a graph report, the Graph type and Graph sub-type boxes are displayed.

Web modify the list of report objects (use object browser - all objects)

use the Object Browser when viewing a report in view or design mode. This determines whether the user is a report designer or a report creator. A report designer is a user who can build new reports based on any object in the project. A report creator can work only within the parameters of a pre-designed report that has been set up by a report designer. For more information on this, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

Web save templates and filters

save templates and filters

Web set column widths

modify the column widths and row height for a grid report

Web subscribe others

view all available addresses, and add other MicroStrategy users to a report or document subscription

Web use advanced threshold editor

use the Advanced Threshold Editor

Web use design mode

modify the report using design mode

Web use filter editor

add or modify the report filter for a report

Web use prompt editor

use the prompt editor, and create or modify prompts




© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. Common Privileges 269

Common PrivilegesThe predefined MicroStrategy Web Professional user group is assigned the common privileges by default.

Common Privileges


* Drill within Intelligent Cube

drill within an Intelligent Cube, so no SQL is executed

Note: A user who has this privilege and executes a drill that can be resolved through OLAP Services does not generate and execute SQL against the warehouse.

Add notes add notes to a report or document

Create application objects

create application objects

Create new folder create new folders

Create schema objects

create schema objects

Create shortcut create shortcuts to objects

Edit notes edit an existing note in a report or document

Export to Excel export a report or document to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Export to Flash export a report or document to Adobe Flash presentation

Export to HTML export a report or document to HTML

Export to PDF export a report or document to a PDF document

Export to text export a report or document to plain text

Save personal and prompt answer

save personalized answers to prompts

Schedule request schedule a report or document for later delivery

Use server cache use the caches on the Intelligence Server

Use Translation editor

use the Translation editor

View notes view notes that have been added to a report or document


270 Distribution Services Privileges © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Distribution Services Privileges

These privileges correspond to the functionality available to users of the Distribution Services product. License Manager counts any user who has any of these privileges as a Distribution Services user.

Distribution Services Privileges


Configure contacts data security profile

link and unlink a contact to a user

Create and edit transmitters and devices

use the Transmitter Editor and Device Editor

Create e-mail address

create new e-mail addresses for subscriptions

Create file location

create new file locations for subscriptions

Create print location

create new printer locations for subscriptions

Subscribe to e-mail

create an e-mail subscription

Subscribe to file create a file subscription

Subscribe to print create a print subscription

Use Distribution Services

receive e-mail, file, and print subscriptions

Use link to History List in e-mail

receive an e-mail subscription with a link to a History List, and use the Data And Link To History List and Link To History List options when creating an e-mail subscription

Use send now and send preview now

preview and send subscriptions immediately


© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. User Privileges 271

User Privileges

User Preferences

This option enables you to change preferences for a variety of settings, including report display, printing and exporting properties, and more.

General

The General preferences page lets you personalize your MicroStrategy Web settings. You can modify settings such as locale, font style, and save options.

The following image shows the General page:

General Page

The image above displays only part of the preference page.

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click General. The General preferences page options are the following:


272 User Privileges © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Default start page: Select a default start page location. Options include Home, Summary, History List, My Subscriptions, My Reports, and Shared Reports. You can also choose to start with the Last Folder visited, if a folder name is displayed.

Color Theme: Select a color on the drop-down list. The background of the shortcut bar and toolbars and panes are displayed in the colors defined by your selection. Click Show Theme Preview to see how the color scheme will look in MicroStrategy Web.

Options—Select preferences, such as language and time zone, to personalize MicroStrategy Web:

• Language—Specify the language in which to display MicroStrategy Web pages.

– Click the Show Advanced Locale Settings button to access Number and Date Format, Measurement Units, and Intelligence Server Messages.

• Locale—Specify the metadata language by picking a locale on the drop-down list.

• Number and Date Format—Specify the language in which numbers and dates are displayed. This setting, along with the Time Zone setting, ensure that object creation/modification dates and times are converted to your local time if the project information is in another time zone.

• Measurement Units—Specify the unit of measurement that MicroStrategy Web should use for horizontal and vertical rulers, the alignment grid, and the measurement and positioning of objects in a report or document.

• Messages—Specify the language in which all messages from the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server are displayed.

• Data—Specify the warehouse language by picking a locale on the drop-down list.

• Time Zone—Specify the time zone in which you work (the default setting is GMT or Greenwich Mean Time).



Dynamic HTML (called DHTML)—Enable or disable HTML optimization in your browser for MicroStrategy Web. Browser versions above Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 7, or Mozilla Firefox 1.0 fully support DHTML. The default setting is Determine automatically, which means that DHTML optimization is automatically turned on if your browser supports the technology. Select No to use HTML only.

You can do the following in MicroStrategy Web only if DHTML is enabled:

• Creating Report Services documents

• Automatically submitting option selections in drop-down lists

• Moving, copying, or renaming reports, documents, folders, or other objects while browsing through folder pages

• Dragging and dropping objects on or off a grid report

• Right-clicking objects in reports or folders

• Enabling outline mode in grid reports

• Locking grid headers

• Adding shortcut metrics, such as percent-to-total or rank metrics, to a grid report

• Opening movable windows such as the Report Properties window. If DHTML is disabled, option screens are displayed as panes that cannot be repositioned.

Some of the functionality noted is only available to Web Professionals, or web users with the appropriate privileges.

Accessibility Mode—If you use software that audibly reads what is displayed on the monitor, select the Enable screen reader compatibility check box. Enabling this check box also enables a screen reader-compatible version of this online help.



Drop down menus—Select or clear the Require mouse click to open menus check box to determine whether to require a mouse click to open menus. If the check box is disabled, menus open when a user places the cursor over them. This is only applicable when DHTML is enabled. (See Dynamic HTML above.)

Font style—Select the fonts or typefaces you want to have available for the interface and reports. Select a font in the Available list, then click the right arrow to move it to the Selected list. You can then select a font and click the up or down arrows to order them in the priority to use on reports. You can also set the font size you prefer in the Font size box.

Output Formats—Set printing and exporting options, as follows:

• Use PDF for printing reports—Select this option to enable PDF printing, which allows you to adjust your document or report through a PDF preview before printing it. PDF printing allows you to specify print options without having to adjust your browser's print settings.

• Re-use new window for each export, print, PDF action—Clear this check box to open a new window every time you click the PDF, Print, or Export buttons. Select this check box to reuse a PDF, Export, or Print window whenever one of these types of windows is already open in Web.

• Full Screen Mode Behavior for Reports:

– Read from Report—Ensures that a report is displayed in Full Screen mode only if the report's Full Screen Mode setting is enabled.

– This setting is the Always open this report in full screen mode check box in the Grid Options window/pane.

– Open every Report in Full Screen mode—Ensures that all reports in the current project are displayed in Full Screen Mode, by default.

– Don't open any Report in Full Screen mode—Ensures that no reports in the current project are displayed in Full Screen Mode.



• Full Screen Mode Behaviour for Documents:

– Read from Document—Ensures that a report is displayed in Full Screen Mode only if the report's Full Screen mode setting is enabled.

– This setting is the Always open this document in full screen mode check box in the Properties and Formatting window.

– Open every Document in Full Screen mode—Ensures that all reports in the current project are displayed in Full Screen Mode, by default.

– Don't open any Document in Full Screen mode—Ensures that no reports in the current project are displayed in Full Screen Mode.

Cart-style selections—Determine whether items in cart-style prompts or in the Report Filter and View Filter editors remain in the Available list even after you add them to the Selected list. Select the Keep item in list of available answers when making selections in cart-style prompts or filter editors check box to ensure that items you select are not removed from the Available list when you move them to the Selected list.

Qualification—This is the actual condition that must be met for data to be included on a report. For example, "Region = Northeast" or "Revenue > $1 million". You can create multiple qualifications for a single filter or custom group, and then set how to combine the qualifications using the logical operators AND, AND NOT, OR, and OR NOT.

• Default Operators for Metric Qualification—Determine the default operator (such as Greater Than or Equals) that is displayed in a report filter, view filter, or prompt when you create a metric qualification. When you build a metric qualification in a filter or prompt, the operator specified here is displayed by default if it is compatible with the data type of the metric.



• Default Operators for Attribute Qualification—Determine the default operator (such as Greater Than or Equals) that is displayed in a report filter, view filter, or prompt when you create an attribute qualification. When you build an attribute qualification in a filter or prompt, the operator specified here is displayed by default if it is compatible with the attribute form.

Hierarchy browsing—Specify what levels of detail are displayed when you browse hierarchies.

• Expand Attributes automatically when there is only one browsing option—Select this option to allow attributes with only one browsing option to be expanded automatically.

Save Options—Select the Display advanced options check box to access advanced saving options.

• Display advanced options—Allows you to save reports as static or prompted. Saving a report as prompted will reprompt you the next time you run the report; saving it as static saves and recalls your original prompt answer so that it defaults the next time you run the report.

On the drop-down list at the bottom of the page, apply the changes to the current project or all projects you have accessed that are stored on the Intelligence Server and then click Apply.

Clicking Load Default Values will reset all of your preferences settings.



Folder Browsing

The folder browsing preferences page allows you to select whether or not to allow browsing within folders.

The following image shows the Folder browsing page:

Folder Browsing Preference Page

Select Preferences at the top of any page and then click Folder browsing.

• On the drop-down list, apply the changes to the current project or all projects you have accessed that are stored on the Intelligence Server and then click Apply.

Grid Display

The Grid display preferences page allows you to personalize how grids will display in your reports. You can specify what features you would like to access in your report grids.

The following image shows the Grid display page:

Grid Display Preference Page



Select Preferences at the top of any page, and then click Grid Display. The Grid Display preferences page options are the following:

Grid style—Select one of the following options on the drop-down list to specify the grid style to use with reports in MicroStrategy Web:

• Use the format stored in the report definition—The grid style preference that is applied to the report definition by the report's designer is used for all reports.

• Use my selected default grid style—Your selected default grid style (see the Default grid style option below) is applied to all reports in MicroStrategy Web. If you choose to use a selected grid style, you will not be able to change any formatting on any of the reports that you run.

Default grid style—Select a grid style on the drop-down list to be the default grid style for all reports. The default grid style is used for all reports that are run in MicroStrategy Web if the Use my selected default grid style option is selected.

Maximum rows in grid—Limit the number of rows displayed on your report at one time. If your report has more rows than the number entered here, you can use the left and right arrows to view additional data.

Maximum columns in grid—Limit the number of columns displayed in your report at one time. If your report has more columns than the number entered here, you can use the left and right arrows to view additional data.

Show attribute form names—Specify whether attribute form names for attributes with multiple forms are displayed in reports. Choose one of the following on the drop-down list:

• Yes—Attribute forms are displayed on reports.

• No—Attribute forms are not displayed on reports.

• Read from report (default)—You can hide or show a report's attribute forms using the View menu.

Show pivot buttons—Show or hide pivot buttons on all your reports. You can also access these buttons on the Tools menu in a report.



Show sort buttons—Show or hide sort buttons on all your reports. You can also access these buttons on the Tools menu in a report.

Display empty grid axes in View Mode—Show or hide a grid report when objects do not exist in the rows. For example, you have a report that does not contain objects in its rows, but has objects in the columns. If this setting is enabled, an empty grid is displayed in the part of the report in which there are no objects, in this case, the rows. The empty grid may display messages similar to the following: "Drop objects here to add columns." If this setting is disabled, only portions of the grid that contain objects (in this case, the columns) are displayed.

Enable sorting by attribute forms that are not displayed on the grid—Determine whether you can sort according to attribute forms that are not displayed on the grid. For example, the description form for Category is displayed on a report. If this setting is enabled, you can still sort the report based on the ID form even though the ID form is not present on the report.

Automatic page-by—Determine whether a new page of information displays immediately after you select a choice in a page-by drop-down list. If this check box is cleared, you must click Apply to see the new information after making a selection. This can be useful if there are multiple page-by drop-down lists and you want to click the Apply button only once.

Use images for depicting expand and contract in outline mode—Use this setting to adjust the expand and contract symbols in Outline mode. If the expand and contract images do not appear correctly in Outline mode, change this setting.

On the drop-down list at the bottom of the page, apply the changes to the current project or all projects you have access to that are stored on the Intelligence Server and then click Apply.



Graph Display

The Graph display preferences section allows you to personalize how graphs will display in your reports. You can specify what features you would like to access in your report graphs.

The following image shows the Graph display page:

Graph Display Preference Page

Select Preferences at the top of any page, and then click Graph display. The Graph display preferences page options are the following:

• Graph size—Choose to Use the size settings stored in the report definition or manually set the width and height of graphs by entering numbers in the Width and Height fields.

• Show graph reports by default in 'Grid and Graph' view mode—Determine whether reports that usually only display a graph are displayed in Grid and Graph view by default.




Export Reports

The Export Reports preferences page allows you to specify exporting preferences. Here, you can select the way that you want to export grids, graphs and HTML documents.

When you export a report, you move a copy of the report into some other software, such as Microsoft Excel, Adobe PDF, or a simple text file.

The following image shows the Export Reports page:

Export Reports Preference Page

Select Preferences at the top of any page, and then click Export Reports. The Export Reports preferences page options are the following:

Export—On the drop-down list, select either Whole report to export the entire report or Portion displayed only to export only the portion of your report displayed on your browser. This is a useful option if you commonly view reports with name pages and only want to export the page you are viewing.



Export grids to:

• Excel with plain text—After export, the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet includes only the text of the grid report. Report formatting as it appears in MicroStrategy is not retained.

• CSV file format—After export, the contents of the grid report is displayed, separated by commas.

• Excel with formatting—After export, the grid report is displayed in an Excel spreadsheet and retains all colors, fonts, and structure.

• HTML—The grid report is exported to an HTML file.

• Plain text—The contents of the grid report are exported to plain text, and the Delimiter you specify separates data from each cell of the report.

Export graphs to:

• Excel with formatting—The graph report is opened in the version of Excel you specify in the Excel version drop-down list.

• HTML—The graph report is exported to an HTML file.

Export HTML documents to:

• HTML—The HTML document maintains its format, color, and structure when exported to an HTML file.

• Excel without formatting—Only grids from the HTML document are exported to plain text, giving users access to the data within the grid reports. Graph reports in HTML documents are not exported to Excel.

Export Report Title—Chose whether or not to export the report title on a report.

Export Page-By Information—Chose whether or not to export the page-by information on a report

Export filter details—Choose whether or not to export the filter details on a report. If you choose to export them, they appear above the exported report.



Export Header and Footer—Specify header and footer details by clicking Edit Custom Settings.

Edit Custom Settings—Select header and footer settings from the Insert Auto-text drop-down list. Select a header placement option, located below the Header field.

Remove extra column—Determine whether the first column header, which contains the word "Metrics", is displayed on an exported report. Select Automatic to ensure that the default setting chosen by the reports' designer is used.

Expand all page-by fields—Print all objects in the Page-by drop-down lists when printing a report. To print only the objects currently displayed, clear this check box.

Excel options

• Excel version—Specify which version of Excel is used to export reports and documents. The version you specify determines how version-specific situations, such as European symbol formatting, are handled in Excel.

• The system defaults to Excel XP, Excel 2003 or newer versions.

• Export metric values as text—Determine whether numeric values should be exported as text or as numbers. If you choose to export metric values as numbers, Excel may automatically format the number. For example, $34.23614 may be rounded to $34.24 in Excel. If you choose to export metric values as text, Excel will not automatically format the numbers. This setting only applies to exports to Excel.

• Export headers as text—Determine whether header values should be exported as text or in their current format, which could be numeric, date, and so on. This setting only applies to exports to Excel.

Excel with formatting options

• Place each page on a separate sheet—Determine if each page of your report will be placed on its own Excel sheet.



• Always export graphs as live Excel charts—Determine whether graph reports are exported as Excel charts on which you can perform Excel manipulations just as you can on any graph in Excel. If you do not enable this setting, graphs are exported to Excel as bitmaps.

• Embed images—Determine whether exported graphs and images from the report or document are included in the Excel spreadsheet as images. If this check box is selected, the images and graphs can be accessed from the spreadsheet with out having to run MicroStrategy Web.

• Allow MicroStrategy Office to Refresh Reports after Exporting

Show options when exporting—Determine whether the Export Options page opens each time you export a report. This allows you to easily change export settings for each report you export, such as which format you want to export to.

• If you select this check box, the Export Options page opens each time you export a report.

• If you clear this check box, the Export Options page does not open when you export a report. The report is exported with the settings you have saved in this Export Reports preferences page of the User Preferences.


Print Reports (PDF)

The Print Reports PDF preferences page lets you set defaults for printing reports in PDF format. For example, if most of your reports are printed in landscape orientation, you can set your print default to landscape so you do not have to select this each time you print.

Prerequisites



• You must select Use PDF for printing report in the General section in order to access the Print Reports (PDF) preferences setting.

The following image shows the Print Reports (PDF) page:

Print Reports (PDF) Preference Page

Select Preferences at the top of any page, and then click Print Reports (PDF). The Print Reports (PDF) preferences page options are the following:

Export—On the drop-down list, select either Whole report or Portion displayed only to choose to export either the entire report or only the portion of your report displayed in your browser.

Page Header and Footer—You can use headers and footers saved as part of the report settings or use a customized header and footer on all your reports. Select Edit Custom Settings to access the Header/Footer Editor. You can specify what text to print in the left, center, and right portions of the page's header and footer. You can simply type this text or insert fields specific to the report by choosing macros on the Insert Auto-text drop-down list at the top of the page.



Report Header—Click Edit Custom Settings to access the Header/Footer Editor and specify the text to print in the report header. Type this text in the box or choose autotext on the drop-down list to the upper left.

Scaling—Adjust the amount of the report's content (and thus, the size of the font) that prints on a page from the following scaling options:

• Adjust font to __% of original size—Manually set the percent to adjust the font on a page.

• Fit to:__ page(s) wide by __ tall (only visible if PDF printing is disabled)—Specify the page dimensions to which the contents will be fit.

• Fit to page (only visible if PDF printing is disabled)—Specify whether the page is adjusted for All columns, All Rows, or both.

Print the grid and the graph on the same page—Determine whether the grid and the graph are printed on the same page when printing a report displayed in Grid and Graph view. If you clear the check box, the grid and graph print on separate pages.

Orientation—Print reports in either Portrait or Landscape format.

Print cover page—Determine whether a cover page is printed, and select one of the following to determine which details are printed:

• With Filter Details—Print the filter details of a report on a separate page. The filter details are placed before the contents of the report.

• With Report Details—Print the report details of a report on a separate page. The report details are placed before the contents of the report.

• Cover page location—Determine whether the cover page is placed before or after the report.

Expand all page-by fields—Print all combinations of items in the Page-by axis when printing a report that has one or more items in the Page-by axis. To print only the items currently displayed, clear this check box.



Paper size—Select the paper size on which to print a report.

Margins (Inches)—Set the top, left, right and bottom margins. For reports to print correctly, these margin settings, the margin settings in the browser's File, and the Page Setup option must match. This is only applicable if PDF printing is disabled. The default values for all of them is 0.75 inches.

Maximum header/footer size (Inches)—Set the size at which the report header and footer can be overwritten. If the header or footer is larger than its maximum size and the report must use the space to display its content, the header or footer is cut off by the report content. If the report does not use the space, the entire header or footer is displayed, regardless of size.

Use bitmaps for graphs—Determine if graphs are generated using a bitmap format or a vector format (default). Select the Use bitmaps for graphs check box to specify that graphs are generated using a bitmap format.

• When the Use bitmaps for graphs check box is selected, the Use draft quality for graphs check box becomes available. Select the Use draft quality for graphs check box if you want the exported PDF to use lower-quality graphs. This results in a smaller PDF file size and is particularly helpful when you do not intend to print the report or document.

Embed fonts—Determine if you want to use the original fonts chosen in the Document Editor to display and print the PDF, even on machines that do not have those fonts installed. This ensures the portability of the PDF.

Show options when exporting to PDF—Determine whether the PDF Options page opens each time a report is exported to PDF. If the check box is cleared, the PDF Options page does not open unless the user chooses that setting in the User Preferences.




Drill mode

Drilling is one of the most powerful data analysis features in any reporting environment. Drilling lets you explore data beyond the data immediately visible on a report. You can drill through a report to analyze data that is closely related to the original report data, or you can expose an entirely different object on a report to see what the data looks like within a different context.

The Drill mode preferences section lets you select default drill settings for your reports. Here, you can select to Keep parent while drilling and to Open drill results in a new window.

The following image shows the Drill Mode page:

Drill Mode Preference Page

Select Preferences at the top of any page, and then click Drill mode. The Drill mode preferences page options are the following:

Common Drill Preferences

• Keep parent while drilling—Determine whether or not to display the original object when you drill to a new level.

• Keep thresholds while drilling—Determine whether or not to display report thresholds when you drill on a report.

• Open drill results in a new window—Determine whether or not to display drilled report results in a new window when you drill on a report.



Report Services Drill Preferences

• Drill within behavior—Determine how Drill Within paths are resolved. The paths are as follows:

– Automatic—If the drill can be resolved with the base dataset, it is. Otherwise, a new report is opened.

– Based on menu location—If the drill is performed in the first submenu level, then it is resolved within the base dataset. Otherwise, a new report is opened.

– Always Drill to a new report—A new report is always opened.


Prompts

Any report can contain prompts. A prompt is a question presented to the user who runs the report. Depending on the answers the user provides, the report brings back and displays different data from the data source.

Answering a prompted report differently each time it is executed is one way to ensure that a report is executed against your data source and displays the most recent data. This is because different prompt answers usually require different data than what is stored in the report’s cache.

The Prompts preferences page lets you select whether to display all of your prompts on one or multiple pages in your reports.

The following image shows the Prompts page:

Prompts Preference Page



To access preferences, on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web select Preferences, then click Prompts. The Prompts preferences page options are the following:

• View prompts—Determine how you want to view the prompts in a report. These are the choices:

– All on one page—All of the prompt information is downloaded and displayed on one page and all prompts are shown at the same time. You can jump from one prompt to another by clicking the navigation links on the prompts.

– Each on a separate page—Displays only one prompt per page at a time. The prompt page includes only the information for the prompt displayed.


Report Services

Report Services is a MicroStrategy product that allows the Web Professionals to design documents. As a Web Reporter you can not design documents, but you still have some manipulation features. You must own the MicroStrategy Report Services product to analyze data using documents in MicroStrategy Web.



The following image shows the Report Services preference page:

Report Services Preference Page

To access preferences, on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, select Preferences, then click Report Services. The Report Services preferences page options are the following:

Dots per inch (DPI)—Specify the resolution in which documents are displayed in MicroStrategy Web. The default DPI setting is 96.

Alignment grid density—Specify the density of the grid to which objects are aligned. You can choose either Low, Medium, or High as the density per unit. The units are measured in inches or centimeters.

Selection Behavior—Allows you to fully enclose or to only touch a control to include it in a selection box. The options are:

• Fully Enclosed—Select whether you want a selection box to only select an object it completely covers.

• Partially Enclosed—Select whether you want a selection box to select an object even if it only partially covers that object.

Document Width Mode Calculation—Choose either the Automatic or Off setting to determine the default width of the document.



Document Section Height Mode Calculation—Choose either the Automatic or Off setting to determine the default height of the document.

Enable Flash Mode—Check this box to enable or disable Flash Mode. Flash Mode allows you to access features on a document that are provided by Flash, such as interactive widgets.

• Allow MicroStrategy Office to refresh Documents after exporting to Excel—You must own the MicroStrategy Office product to modify this setting. Determine whether MicroStrategy Office has the ability to refresh documents after they have been exported to Excel.

• Use floating toolbar to apply selector changes—A selector is an element of a dashboard that allows you to change the data that you are viewing. A selector can be displayed as a button bar, a drop-down list, radio buttons, and so on. A selector can change panes or the focus of a grid or graph. Determine whether you want to display a floating toolbar when making changes to a selector.


Security

Adding security settings to your History List allows you to maintain the contents within the folder. For instance, you can keep it organized by applying a setting that deletes all of the read messages.

The following image shows the Security page:

Security Preference Page



To access preferences, on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web select Preferences, then click Security. The Security preferences page options are the following:

Cancel this session's pending requests?—Determine whether jobs will or will not be deleted from the History List when the session is closed. The options are:

• Yes—Unfinished jobs will be deleted when the session is closed.

• No—Unfinished jobs will not be deleted when the session is closed.

Remove the finished jobs from the History List?—Determine whether jobs in the History List will be deleted when the session is closed. The options are:

• Yes—All finished jobs will be deleted when the session is closed.

• No—None of the finished jobs will be deleted when the session is closed.

• Only the read messages—Only the messages that have been viewed will be deleted when the session is closed.


E-mail, file, and printer

If you own the MicroStrategy Distribution Services product, you can set preferences in MicroStrategy Web for where to deliver scheduled reports and documents. MicroStrategy Distribution Services can deliver these files to an e-mail address, to a file location on a network, or to a printer location on a network. Information for each type of delivery location is provided below.



The following image shows the E-mail Addresses page (just one example of all three preferences):

E-mail Addresses Preference Page

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click E-mail Addresses.

E-mail Addresses

The E-mail Addresses page lets you manage e-mail addresses associated with a schedule and the Send (e-mail) Now feature. This page allows you to create, edit, and delete e-mail addresses.

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click File Locations.

File Locations

The File Locations page lets you manage file locations for scheduled deliveries. This interface allows you do create, edit, and delete file addresses.

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click Printer Locations.

Printer Locations

The Printer Locations page lets you manage printer locations for scheduled deliveries. This page allows you to create, edit, and delete printer locations.



Office

The following image shows the Office page:

Office Page

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click Office.

Allow MicroStrategy Office to refresh Documents after exporting to Excel—Determine if MicroStrategy Office can refresh documents after they have been exported to Excel.

Allow MicroStrategy Office to refresh Reports after exporting—Determine if MicroStrategy Office can refresh grid reports after they have been exported to Excel.




Change password

This setting allows you to update your password when desired.

The following image shows the Change Password page:

Change Password Preference Page

Select Preferences on the menu at the top of MicroStrategy Web, then click Change password.

• Old password—Enter your old password.

• New password—Enter your new password.

• New password verification—Re-enter your new password to ensure it matches your previous entry.

Apply the changes to the current project you have access to that are stored on the Intelligence Server by clicking Apply.


CWHAT'S NEW IN MICROSTRATEGY 9.0.2 WEB FOR PROFESSIONALS

Lesson Description

This appendix provides an overview of new features available in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 for web professionals. This release includes dozens of features and enhancements, but only the most important, high-profile changes are highlighted in this appendix. The appendix assumes that you are already familiar with MicroStrategy Web functionality and related terminology.

For more information on all of the features available with MicroStrategy 9.0.2, you can access the "What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2" online course series at https://resource.microstrategy.com/education/

What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 Web For Professionals MicroStrategy Web for ProfessionalsC

298 What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2. © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2.


Describe various features new features and enhancements available in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 version of the software.

Creating Custom Group

In MicroStrategy 9.0.2, you can create and modify custom groups in MicroStrategy Web™. Custom groups allow you to group attribute elements in a way that is not defined in the data warehouse. A custom group is a report object made up of an ordered collection of components called custom group elements. Each custom group element consists of a header and one or more conditions that must be met for data to be included in the custom group element.

Custom Group Editor

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 Web For Professionals C

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2. 299

To create a custom group in MicroStrategy Web

1 Browse to the folder in which to create a new custom group.

2 In the toolbar, click Create Custom Group.

3 In the Custom Group Editor, in the Enter Custom Group name here box, type the name of the custom group.

4 In the Enter Custom Group description here box, type the custom group description.

5 Click New Custom Group Element.

6 In the Condition Editor window, define the condition.

7 Click the element name.

8 In the box, type a new name.

9 Repeat steps 5 through 8 to create additional custom group elements.

10 Click Save.

11 In the Save As window, browse to the location in which you want to save your custom group.

12 Click Save.

13 Click OK.

You can modify existing custom groups elements using the Custom Group Editor.

Creating Metric-to-Metric Qualification Filters

You can compare values of two metrics to filter the results of a report by creating metric-to-metric qualifications. This type of metric qualification can provide analysis such as comparing metric values over time.



For example, in the following image, a metric-to-metric qualification filter limits results when the Profit Margin is greater than or equal to Last Year's (Profit Margin).

Metric-to-Metric Qualification Filter

To create a metric-to-metric qualification filter:

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run a report in Grid view.

2 In the View Filter pane, click Add Condition.

NOTE: To display the View Filter pane, in the Tools menu, click View Filter.

3 In the Filter On drop-down list, select a metric.

4 In the first drop-down list, select an operator.

5 Click Select Metric.

6 In the drop-down list, select a metric.

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2 Web For Professionals C

© 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc. What's New in MicroStrategy 9.0.2. 301

7 Click Apply.

Creating Attribute-to-Attribute Qualification Filters

In a filter, attribute-to-attribute qualifications allow you to compare attributes based on the value of their attribute forms.

For example, in the following image, for an orders report, an attribute-to-attribute qualification filter can show those orders where the First Order Date is the same as the Last Order Date.

Attribute-to-Attribute Qualification Filter

To create an attribute-to-attribute filter:

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run a report in Grid view.

2 In the View Filter pane, click Add Condition.

To display the View Filter pane, in the Tools menu, click View Filter.

3 In the Filter On drop-down list, select an attribute.



4 Click Qualify.

5 In the first drop-down list, select the attribute form.

6 In the second drop-down list, select an operator.


8 In the third drop-down list, select an attribute with its appropriate form.

9 Click Apply.


INDEX

Aadvanced save options 65

Advanced Thresholds Editor 185

All Objects pane 44, 47, 153

AND 100

AND NOT 102

attribute 37, 55

Attribute Element List prompt 126

Attribute Element List qualification 89

Attribute Form qualification 87

Attribute Qualification prompt 126

BBlank Report 41, 54, 58

Cchange

set operator 102

consolidation 38

copy of object 63

create

prompt 130

report 39, 48, 54

report filter 85

custom group 38

DDate qualification 91

derived elements 230

derived metrics 225

design mode 42

graph 195

Distribution Services 241

dual-axis graphs 210

FFilter Editor 86

Filter qualification 95

Find feature 87, 89, 92, 94, 96, 97

Format Graph window 197

Format Template window 180

formatting toolbargraph 196

grid 179

GGraph Design Mode 195

Index MicroStrategy Web for Professionals

304 © 2011 MicroStrategy, Inc.

graph formattingadvanced color palette and

gradients 208

dual-axis 210

Format Graph window 197

toolbar 196

grid formattingFormat Template window 180

toolbar 179

HHierarchy Qualification prompt 126

IIntelligent Cube 41, 54

creating reports 228

Llink 166

MMDX source 41, 54, 59

metric 37, 57

derived 225

transformation shortcut 225

Metric Qualification prompt 126

Metric value qualification 93

Metrics column

remove 191

MicroStrategy OLAP Services 36, 41, 43, 48, 154, 228, 230

derived elements 230

Intelligent Cubes 228

MicroStrategy Web versions 21, 22

NNotes pane 45

Oobject browser 42

Object prompt 37, 126

OR 100

OR NOT 101

Ppersonal prompt answers 127

Predesigned Report 41, 48

project home page 28

Create Document 29

Create Filter 30

Create Prompt 30

Create Report 29

History List 29

My Reports 29

My Subscriptions 29

Preferences 30

Shared Reports 28

promptattribute element list 126

attribute qualification 126

creation 130

hierarchy qualification 126

metric qualification 126

object 126

value 126

Prompt Editor 125

Prompted Predesigned Report 41

Qqualification

attribute element list 89

MicroStrategy Web for Professionals Index


attribute form 87

date 91

filter 95

metric value 93

report filter 97

RRelated Reports pane 46

report 36

creation 39, 48, 54

Report Builder 41

Report Details properties 160

report filter 36, 38

creation 85

report filter conditions

group 103

reorder 103

ungroup 103

Report Filter qualification 97

Report Objects pane 43, 48

report view 36

Report Wizard 41

Resize Columns and Rows 189

SSave report 58

advanced options 65

prompted 144

static 144

set operator 99, 102

shortcut to object 63

source 166

Ttarget 166

template 36, 37

template definition window 47, 55, 57

transformation shortcut metric 225

VValue prompt 126

versions 21, 22

vertical text 193

WWeb Analyst 21

Web Professional 21

Web Reporter 21