Tutorial Documentation

Course Name: Information for Decision Making (INST 714)

Group Members: Ankit Shah, Charanya Rammesh, Maithreyi Chander, Sourabh Dwivedi

MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy is a business intelligence (BI), enterprise reporting, and OLAP (on-line analytical

processing) software vendor. MicroStrategy's software allows reporting and analysis of data from a

variety of sources, including data warehouses, Excel files, and Hadoop distributions. Using this tool,

users can easily transform big data into intuitive dashboards and reports for greater analytical insights to

make informed, decisions by monitoring trends and discovering anomalies within the data.

Software

MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise (Enterprise-grade business intelligence);

MicroStrategy Analytics Desktop (Free self-service visual analytics tool); and

MicroStrategy Analytics Express (Free Cloud-based self-service visual analytics).

A tutorial for MicroStrategy Analytics Express has been created.

MicroStrategy Analytics Express

MicroStrategy Analytics Express is a Software-as-a-Service application that serves as quick and easy

way to analyze data on the cloud. Analytics Express is designed for businesspeople that need to analyze

data but do not have access to the necessary tools and IT resources. It is a self-service business analytics

software designed to help people analyze data on their own.

Analytics Express allows users to access a variety of data sources including spreadsheets, popular cloud

applications, database systems and Hadoop distributions. The data can be accessed instantly without

complex scripting, explore it with data visualizations, design documents and also create custom

interfaces for publishing data to mobile users.

Users can, refine their analysis with the wide range of features such drag-and-drop actions that let them

arrange, resize, and format the visualizations. They can also define new calculations, zoom into details

with the help of filters, sort, pivot, drill and use aggregations to apply statistical analysis and color-code

the results with thresholds.

The application is ideal for IT organizations that need a user friendly yet powerful analytic tool.

Companies looking to deploy an application that supports high-volume report generation can also

benefit from Analytics Express, as it is capable of delivering personalized documents to thousands of

recipients.

Features

Getting started: Create an Analytics express account on www.microstrategy.com.

Microstrategy provides a free trial version which is valid for a year.

Once sign up is complete, Log in to access the dashboard. There are two kinds of dashboards:

Personal and Team. Personal Dashboard will be discussed in detail here. Refer to additional

features section for more information about team dashboards.

Click on Personal Dashboard. The software allows you to choose between a number of

sources to upload datasets from. Once the source is chosen click on continue.

Note: The tutorial will focus on one of the sample datasets available: Airline Data Sample

Choose the source “one of our samples option”. Select the Airline Sample. Click continue. The

database loads.

Click continue to choose from a variety of visualizations like heat maps, bar diagram, line

diagram, maps, network diagram etc. The paid version offers certain advanced templates as well.

For the purpose of the tutorial, heat maps are chosen to represent the data. The data can also be

represented by using a number of visualizations either in the same layout or different layout by

clicking on Add Visualization.

Filters can be set to any of the attributes to organize data by a specific attribute. For example, in

the picture below, filter has been set to the year attribute in the airline data sample.

For example suppose the question is to compare the number of flights at each airport in 2009,

2010 and 2011. This can be done by dragging the attribute number of flights to Size by and the

attribute Origin airport to Color by. The resulting heat map would appear something like this.

Suppose the question is to find out which airline/airlines caused the maximum (average time)

delay across all airports. This can be done by sizing by average time delay and coloring by

airline name. The resulting heat map appears something like this:

The above examples illustrate how the data can be explored to obtain meaningful insights by

means of visualizations.

Additional Features

Combining data from different data sources

You can select columns from different databases and combine the data while building a dashboard. You

can also embed together, a number of dashboards created from different data sources into a single

dashboard.

Team Launchpad

MicroStrategy Cloud Express allows users to create teams of users. They can share their dashboards

securely with other members of their team and collaboratively edit them. You can create as many teams

as needed. As the owner of a team, you may design a Team Launchpad, a custom mobile interface

where you can publish your team’s most important dashboards. The dashboard can be customized to

include corporate logos, color schemes, help videos, PDF tutorials and any other content. All this can be

done without writing a single line of code.

Sharing

MicroStrategy Analytics Express lets you choose which dashboards you want to share. You can also

choose to filter the data prior to sharing and will be able to share only relevant data with others.

Automated Delivery

You can also schedule automated deliveries to share your dashboards via email with other users of

MicroStrategy Cloud Express.

Social Media

If you have data that’s appropriate for public consumption, you may also share dashboards on social

media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or embed an interactive version of your dashboard on your

website or blog

Review

Platform

MicroStrategy is completely platform independent. MicroStrategy was recognized by Gartner as having

the broadest and the most advanced set of mobile capabilities compared to other BI tools. The support of

both mobile and tablet versions are one of its biggest advantages. With more and more businesses

adopting the use of smartphones, tablets, cloud-based and mobile options of Business Intelligence tools,

Microstrategy has a huge advantage over a number of other BI tools that can be used only on the

desktop. People can now get work done from wherever they with the help of their mobile devices and

cloud services.

Integration

Also, all versions of the product now support data blending, i.e., data from multiple data sources and can

be used on the web browser. Also, a more scalable and centrally controlled data combination at the

server level is supported through MicroStrategy's Multi Source option. The server components, supports

several platforms as well (Windows, Solaris, Linux). MicroStrategy continues to improve performance

and integration with its other applications.

Cost

MicroStratgey’s tool is priced very competitively. Express free for the first year, with no future

commitment or cap on the number of users. The main limitation here is that data has to be loaded to the

cloud. Whereas in the fee-based tool, the cloud approach allows its customers either to keep their data

on their own device and use the cloud only for the MicroStrategy application layer or to load the data

into the cloud depending on their preference. This addresses one of the biggest fears about cloud: who

controls the data

FAQS

Can I combine data from different data sources using MicroStrategy Analytics

Express?

Analytics Express allows you to combine data from different sources. You can upload, blend, and

analyze data from multiple sources on a single dashboard to gain even better insights.

How much data can each user import?

Each user has 1 GB of in-memory cube space. Data imported into Analytics Express is stored as in-

memory cubes on the servers to facilitate faster response times and optimize performance. These cube

sizes are dependent on both the amount and types of data being pulled in and are not necessarily

equivalent to the actual file size of the data.

Can I increase my data storage limit?

Other usage models are available for Analytics Express. Contact MicroStrategy at

info@microstrategy.com to find out the best option for your needs.

Can I share my content with others?

Yes. In Analytics Express you control how your dashboards are consumed. You have the ability to invite

users to your team to view, modify, or control dashboards, and you also have the option to deliver

dashboards via email to other users.

Can I view my dashboards on a mobile device?

Yes, just install the latest version of the free MicroStrategy Mobile App, available at

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microstrategy-mobile-for-ipad/id382821025?mt=8, on your iPad to view

your dashboards. Use the MicroStrategy Mobile App to access and interact with your dashboards,

highlight specific areas in your visualizations, add comments, and share with colleagues. For the best

experience, use iOS version 4.3.3 or newer.

What are the hardware and software requirements for MicroStrategy

Analytics Express?

Because Analytics Express is delivered via the cloud, all you need is a web browser with Adobe Flash

Player installed. If you want to view dashboards using your iPad, download the free MicroStrategy

Mobile App from the iTunes App Store. For the best experience, use iOS version 4.3.3 or newer.

The following web browsers are supported:

• Windows users: Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 13+, Chrome 20+

• Apple users: Safari 5.1+, Firefox 13+, Chrome 20+

How does MicroStrategy Cloud Express connect to my on-premise database?

In order to connect an on-premise database to MicroStrategy cloud Express, you will need a public IP

that is restricted by source, to allow our MicroStrategy servers to securely connect to your database. If

the restricted public IP option doesn’t work for you, please contact MicroStrategy at

info@microstrategy.com or 888.537.8135 to learn about alternate options.

How much data can I analyze using MicroStrategy Cloud Express?

Every user will have 1 GB of capacity for data they wish to upload. If you require additional capacity,

please contact MicroStrategy at info@microstrategy.com or 888.537.8135

Additional Resources:

Registration

https:// www.microstrategy.com/free/express/sign-in#register

User Guide

http://www.microstrategy.com/Strategy/media/downloads/free/analytics-express_user-guide.pdf

Software

http://www.microstrategy.com/free/express/data-preparation#data-prep

More Datasets:

http://www.microstrategy.com/platforms/analytics/self-service-analytics#data-sets

Courses

https://www.microstrategy.com/training-events/training/courses#course-descriptions

Formatting Spreadsheets

http://www2.microstrategy.com/download/files/express/Format-Excel-Spreadsheets-for-Express.pdf

Links to video tutorials:

1. Introduction to MicroStrategy

http://youtu.be/T0wLFfHfzp8

2. MicroStrategy Tutorial: Creating a Dashboard

http://youtu.be/TP8KO7BovyU

3. MicroStrategy Tutorial: Heat/Tree Maps

http://youtu.be/03ZPNWWgcso

4. MicroStrategy Tutorial: Bar Charts

http://youtu.be/H2ZjIBJsDww

5. MicroStrategy Tutorial: Personalization

http://youtu.be/dDvWdkgxSnQ

References:

http://www.microstrategy.com/

http://searchbusinessanalytics.techtarget.com/definition/MicroStrategy

http://download.cnet.com/MicroStrategy-Analytics-Express/3000-2064_4-76019338.html

http://microstrategy-analytics-express.en.softonic.com/web-apps

http://www.microstrategy.com/Strategy/media/downloads/free/analytics-express_faq.pdf

http://www2.microstrategy.com/download/files/cloud/mstr-cloud-express-faq.pdf