Basic Reporting Guide

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CONTENTS

Book Overview and Description of this guide.......................................................... xiii

Additional Resources
About this book ............................................................................ xiv
How to find business scenarios and examples .......................xv
What’s new in this guide .........................................................xv
Prerequisites .......................................................................... xvi
Who should use this guide..................................................... xvi
Resources................................................................................... xvii
Documentation...................................................................... xvii
Education .............................................................................. xxv
Consulting ............................................................................ xxvi
Technical Support ................................................................ xxvi
Feedback ................................................................................... xxvi

1. Getting Started with

MicroStrategy
Reporting
Logging In and Finding Your Introduction.................................................................................. 1
Way Around MicroStrategy
Starting MicroStrategy ................................................................... 2
Starting MicroStrategy Web ..................................................... 2
Starting MicroStrategy Developer ............................................ 3
Security privileges.................................................................... 3
About sample data and the MicroStrategy Tutorial project ...... 4
Opening a report............................................................................ 5
Components of a report ................................................................. 6
Rows and columns .................................................................. 7
Cells ......................................................................................... 7

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Report types .................................................................................. 8

Grids ........................................................................................ 8
Graphs ..................................................................................... 9
Grids and graphs combined................................................... 10
SQL view ............................................................................... 10
Displaying multiple reports in a single presentation..................... 11
Visual Insight dashboards...................................................... 12
Report Services dashboards and documents ........................ 13
OLAP Services ............................................................................ 15
Determining whether you have OLAP Services..................... 15
View filters ............................................................................. 16
Derived metrics ...................................................................... 16
Derived elements ................................................................... 16
Dynamic aggregation ............................................................. 17
Printing, emailing, and exporting reports and data ...................... 18
Printing a report ..................................................................... 18
Emailing a report.................................................................... 18
Exporting data........................................................................ 20

2. Formatting a Report
Thresholds, Banding, Introduction................................................................................ 23
Renaming, Autostyles, Graph
Formatting, and More Ideas for formatting...................................................................... 24
Formatting a grid report ............................................................... 24
Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds ............. 25
Formatting null values and blank cells ................................... 35
Renaming row and column headers ...................................... 37
Hiding and re-displaying a metric column .............................. 42
Resizing a column or row: Column handles and Fixed 
Column Width mode .............................................................. 44
Formatting groups of report rows or columns: Banding ......... 47
Keeping row and column names visible: Locking headers .... 50
Formatting report borders ...................................................... 51
Formatting a combined grid and graph report ............................. 54
Formatting a graph report ............................................................ 56
Viewing a graph report........................................................... 57
Understanding a graph report ................................................ 58
Choosing a graph style .......................................................... 58
Changing the color scheme of a graph .................................. 61
Defining a graph color for metrics .......................................... 62
Formatting conditional data on a graph: Thresholds.............. 64

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Undoing and redoing graph formatting .................................. 68

Moving and resizing graph objects ........................................ 68
Formatting numeric data in a report............................................. 69
Preset formatting: Autostyles....................................................... 69

3. Analyzing Data
Grouping and Pivoting, Introduction................................................................................ 73
Outlines, Calculations, and
Finding Values Sorting data ................................................................................. 74
Quick sort............................................................................... 77
Finding values.............................................................................. 77
Narrowing a search for report data ........................................ 78
Narrowing a search for SQL syntax ....................................... 79
Summary/detail of data................................................................ 80
Outlining data......................................................................... 80
Grouping data by page .......................................................... 85
Pivoting data ................................................................................ 90
Methods for pivoting data ...................................................... 92
Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report limits............ 93
Calculating data ........................................................................... 97
Determining how metric data is combined: Metric join 
types ...................................................................................... 98
Evaluation order of calculations ........................................... 104
Subtotals .............................................................................. 105

4. Answering Questions
about Data
Filters, Drilling, and Introduction.............................................................................. 109
Hierarchies
Filtering data .............................................................................. 110
Viewing a filter’s definition.................................................... 112
Customizing the Report Details pane .................................. 112
Understanding hierarchies......................................................... 114
Business attributes .............................................................. 115
Hierarchies........................................................................... 116
How data is aggregated on a report: metric level ................ 118
Drilling into related data ............................................................. 119
Methods for drilling on a report ............................................ 120
Tracking your drill path and naming the drilled-to report...... 134

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Controlling drilling behavior to affect report results.................... 135

Customizing drilling behavior ............................................... 136
Enabling drilling down or drilling anywhere.......................... 137
Keeping or removing the drilled-from attribute in the new 
report ................................................................................... 139
Drilling on a report with threshold formatting ....................... 141
Drilling on a report grouped by page-by fields ..................... 144
Drilling on a report with subtotals calculated across levels.. 158

5. Answering Prompts Introduction.............................................................................. 167

and Refreshing Data
Refreshing a report .................................................................... 168
Understanding your data sources ........................................ 168
Refreshing the data displayed on a report ........................... 169
Report caches...................................................................... 170
Answering report prompts.......................................................... 173
Saving and re-using prompt answers: Personal answers.... 185
Saving reports with prompts ................................................ 186

6. Building a Quick
Query for Analysis
Using Report Builder Introduction.............................................................................. 191
Prerequisites.............................................................................. 191
Creating a report by combining a template and a filter: Report
Wizard........................................................................................ 193
Quick report creation: Building a new report.............................. 195
Creating a report for analysis............................................... 195

7. Building Query Introduction.............................................................................. 203

Objects and Queries,
Before you begin........................................................................ 204
for Designers
Report designer role ............................................................ 204
Developing a business query and report design: Best 
practices .............................................................................. 205
MicroStrategy objects ................................................................ 209
MicroStrategy projects ......................................................... 211
Creating and saving objects ................................................ 213
Quick object creation ........................................................... 214
Quick object access: Creating shortcuts to objects ............. 214
Providing business context to a report: Attributes ..................... 215
Adding attributes to a report ................................................ 217

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Calculating data on a report: Metrics ......................................... 217

Viewing and working with metrics: The Function Editor....... 218
Components of a metric....................................................... 219
Metrics made up of metrics: Compound metrics.................. 232
Creating a metric ................................................................. 235
Totals and subtotals............................................................. 239
Formatting a metric .............................................................. 244
Asking for user input into a metric’s definition...................... 247
Editing a metric .................................................................... 248
Adding a metric to a report .................................................. 249
Additional metric functionality .............................................. 249
Filtering data on a report: Filters................................................ 250
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor .......................... 252
Types of filters ..................................................................... 253
Filtering data based on business attributes: Attribute
qualifications ........................................................................ 255
Filtering data based on attribute relationships or metrics: 
Set qualifications.................................................................. 270
Filtering data based on existing filters or report results: 
Shortcut qualifications.......................................................... 276
Joining filter qualifications with operators ............................ 282
Asking for user input into a filter’s definition......................... 293
Editing a filter ....................................................................... 294
Adding a filter to a report ..................................................... 295
Additional filtering functionality............................................. 296
Asking for user input: Prompts................................................... 296
Components of a prompt ..................................................... 299
Creating a prompt ................................................................ 305
Types of prompts ................................................................. 307
Filtering data on an attribute, attribute form, attribute 
element, or metric ................................................................ 311
Filtering data based on metrics, attributes, or other 
objects: Object prompts ....................................................... 336
Filtering data based on a single value or string: Value 
prompts ................................................................................ 341
Editing a prompt................................................................... 347
Adding a prompt to a report ................................................. 348
Additional prompt functionality ............................................. 348
Designing a report’s structure: Templates ................................. 348
Creating a grid report................................................................. 351
Prerequisites ........................................................................ 353
Creating a report with the Report Editor .............................. 354
Reports: Adding attributes to a report .................................. 357

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Reports: Adding metrics to a report ..................................... 359

Reports: Adding a filter to a report ....................................... 362
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter ........... 367
Saving a report .................................................................... 382
Example for creating a new report ....................................... 386
Adding features for users........................................................... 387
Formatting for easier data analysis...................................... 388
Letting users choose their own report filter .......................... 400
Adding usability to a Report Services document ................. 400
Confirming your choice of graph style.................................. 401
Enabling drilling and customizing drill maps ........................ 401
Including totals and subtotals .............................................. 402
Including sorted data ........................................................... 403
Hierarchical display of grouped attribute elements .............. 403
Grouping data by page: Adding objects to the page-by field 
in a report............................................................................. 403
Adding consolidations and custom groups .......................... 404
Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report limits.... 405
Determining evaluation order of calculations ....................... 406
Specifying the delivery options available to users 
subscribing to a report ......................................................... 407
Modifying an existing report....................................................... 408
Creating other types of reports .................................................. 410
Creating a graph report........................................................ 410
Creating a Report Services document ................................. 410
Creating an HTML document............................................... 412
Designing reports that use OLAP Services ............................... 413
View filters and view reports ................................................ 413
Derived metrics .................................................................... 414
Dynamic aggregation ........................................................... 414
Building a query using alternative data access methods........... 415
Freeform SQL ...................................................................... 415
Query Builder ....................................................................... 416

A. Reporting Interfaces Introduction.............................................................................. 417

in MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy Developer interface ............................................ 418
Adding and removing shortcuts from the Shortcut Bar ........ 418
Navigating through Developer ............................................. 421
MicroStrategy Developer Report Editor interface ................ 423

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MicroStrategy Web interface ..................................................... 426

Navigating the report interface in MicroStrategy Web ......... 426
MicroStrategy Web Report Editor interface ......................... 432

Glossary................................................................................................................................... 435

Index......................................................................................................................................... 445

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Contents Basic Reporting Guide

xii © 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc.

BOOK OVERVIEW AND
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Description of this guide

Thank you for using MicroStrategy—Platform for Mobile Intelligence.

The MicroStrategy Basic Reporting Guide describes the steps for a business
analyst to execute and analyze a business report in MicroStrategy Developer
and MicroStrategy Web. It also provides the information necessary for report
designers to design, create, and modify simple business reports and
reporting objects using the MicroStrategy platform.

Specifically, this guide provides the following information:

• Chapter 1, Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting, shows you

how to log in and get started with MicroStrategy Developer and
MicroStrategy Web.
• Chapter 2, Formatting a Report, explains how to format a report.

• Chapter 3, Analyzing Data, describes common methods you can use to

better understand and present the data that appears in a report.

• Chapter 4, Answering Questions about Data, explains how to expose

additional data related to your original report.

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Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

• Chapter 5, Answering Prompts and Refreshing Data, shows you how to

refresh your report data and how to answer report prompts.

• Chapter 6, Building a Quick Query for Analysis, is for report analysts. It

shows you how to create a simple report using MicroStrategy’s Report
Builder tool.

• Chapter 7, Building Query Objects and Queries, for Designers, is for

report designers. It describes MicroStrategy objects and how to use them
in creating new reports.

• Appendix A, Reporting Interfaces in MicroStrategy, helps you to become

familiar with the MicroStrategy Web and Developer interface.

Technical terms that need more clarification are defined in the glossary
section of this guide.

The MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide presents more advanced

product functionality and is a logical “next step” when you have mastered the
information in this manual. Other MicroStrategy manuals cover installation,
system administration, and other topics. Most MicroStrategy manuals
assume you have read and mastered all topics covered in this guide.

Detailed steps for all functionality in the MicroStrategy system are available
in the Online Help.

About this book

The following sections provide the location of examples, list prerequisites for
using this book, and describe the user roles the information in this book was
designed for.

This guide provides steps primarily for MicroStrategy Web. Whenever steps
are not in this guide for Developer, click Help in Developer to see detailed
steps to perform tasks in Developer.

 The sample documents and images in this guide, as well as some

example steps, were created with dates that may no longer be
available in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project. If you are re-creating
an example, replace the year(s) shown in this guide with the most
recent year(s) available in the software.

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Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

How to find business scenarios and examples

Within this guide, many of the concepts discussed are accompanied by
business scenarios or other descriptive examples. Many of the examples use
the MicroStrategy Tutorial, which is MicroStrategy’s sample warehouse and
project. Information about the MicroStrategy Tutorial can be found in the
MicroStrategy Basic Reporting Guide.

Detailed examples of advanced reporting functionality can be found in the

MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

What’s new in this guide

Analytics Enterprise

The name of MicroStrategy Desktop has been changed to MicroStrategy

Developer.

MicroStrategy 9.3
• You can determine which delivery options are available to users
subscribing to a specific report. For example, you can specify which
delivery schedules can be used to subscribe to the report, or prevent users
from subscribing to the report altogether. For steps, see Specifying the
delivery options available to users subscribing to a report, page 407.

• The Report Wizard allows you to quickly and easily create a report by
selecting an existing template and filter. For steps, and definitions of
templates and filters, see Creating a report by combining a template and
a filter: Report Wizard, page 193.

MicroStrategy 9.2

Any updates to this guide were minor and not directly related to
MicroStrategy 9.2. For a list of new features in MicroStrategy 9.2, see the
MicroStrategy Readme for that release.

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Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

Prerequisites
If you are a report designer, before working with this manual you should be
familiar with the nature and structure of your company’s data that you will
use for your business intelligence reports.

Who should use this guide

This document is designed for all users who require a basic understanding of
how to manipulate the data in a report to analyze business information, as
well as how to design, create, and modify simple business reports using
MicroStrategy software.

Report design is the process of building reports from basic report

components, or objects. To design reports you use the Report Editor in either
MicroStrategy Developer or Web. The Report Editor also allows you to create
report objects such as templates, metrics, filters, drill maps, and so on. As a
report designer, you can set up a controlled, user-friendly environment for
report analysts. In general, this role is made available only to a group of
advanced users who can design reports. The Developer and Web Professional
user roles in MicroStrategy include the set of privileges required to create
reports and report objects, for each respective product.

Report designers should review chapters 1 through 5 as an introduction, and

should use chapter 6 as their primary reference to begin creating reports.

Report analysis is the process of analyzing business data displayed in

existing reports either in MicroStrategy Web or Developer. Report analysts
can explore report data with the wide range of powerful reporting
functionality that report designers can make available to them. Report
analysts can also save new reports that result as they explore and manipulate
data, making further analysis quicker and more direct. Finally, report
analysts can create quick and easy reports of their own to answer simple
business questions, using the Report Builder and Report Wizard tools. The
Web Analyst and Analyst user roles in MicroStrategy include the set of
privileges required to analyze reports and use related functionality, for each
respective product.

Report analysts should use chapters 1 through 5 as their primary reference to

begin analyzing report data and working with various report functionality to
manipulate that data.

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Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

Resources
This section provides details on how to access books, online help,
MicroStrategy Education and Consulting resources, and how to contact
MicroStrategy Technical Support.

Documentation
MicroStrategy provides both manuals and online help; these two information
sources provide different types of information, as described below:

• Manuals: MicroStrategy manuals provide:


Introductory information and concepts

Examples and images

Checklists and high-level procedures to get started

The steps to access the manuals are described in Accessing manuals and
other documentation sources, page xxiii.
Most of these manuals are also available printed in a bound, soft cover
format. To purchase printed manuals, contact your MicroStrategy
Account Executive with a purchase order number.

• Help: MicroStrategy online help provides:


Detailed steps to perform procedures

Descriptions of each option on every software screen

Additional formats

MicroStrategy manuals are available as electronic publications,

downloadable on the Apple iBooks Store or Google Play, and can be read on
your iOS or Android device respectively. To download a book, search for the
book’s title in the iBookstore or Google Play. To view a list of manuals that
are currently available, scan the following QR codes using your device’s
camera:

© 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc. Resources xvii

Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

• For iOS devices, scan the following QR code:

• For Android devices, scan the following QR code:

 For new MicroStrategy releases, it may take several days for the latest
manuals to be available on the iBookstore or Google Play.

Translations

For the most up-to-date translations of MicroStrategy documentation, refer

to the MicroStrategy Knowledge Base. Due to translation time, manuals in
languages other than English may contain information that is one or more
releases behind. You can see the version number on the title page of each
manual.

Finding information

You can search all MicroStrategy books and Help for a word or phrase, with a
simple Google™ search at http://www.google.com. For example, type
“MicroStrategy derived metric” or “MicroStrategy logical table” into a Google
search. As described above, books typically describe general concepts and
examples; Help typically provides detailed steps and screen options. To limit
your search to MicroStrategy books, on Google’s main page you can click
More, then select Books.

xviii Resources © 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc.

Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

Manuals for MicroStrategy overview and evaluation

• Introduction to MicroStrategy: Evaluation Guide

Instructions for installing, configuring, and using the MicroStrategy

Evaluation Edition of the software. This guide includes a walkthrough of
MicroStrategy features so you can perform reporting with the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project and its sample business data.

• MicroStrategy Evaluation Edition Quick Start Guide

Overview of the installation and evaluation process, and additional

resources.

Resources for security

• Usher Help

Steps to perform mobile identity validation using the Usher mobile

security network to issue electronic badges for identifying users.

Manuals for query, reporting, and analysis

• MicroStrategy Installation and Configuration Guide

Information to install and configure MicroStrategy products on

Windows, UNIX, Linux, and HP platforms, and basic maintenance
guidelines.

• MicroStrategy Upgrade Guide

Steps to upgrade existing MicroStrategy products.

• MicroStrategy Project Design Guide

Information to create and modify MicroStrategy projects, and create the

objects that present your organization’s data, such as facts, attributes,
hierarchies, transformations, advanced schemas, and project
optimization.

• MicroStrategy Basic Reporting Guide

Steps to get started with MicroStrategy Web, and how to analyze and
format data in a report. Includes the basics for creating reports, metrics,
filters, and prompts.

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Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

• MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide: Enhancing Your Business

Intelligence Application

Steps to create Freeform SQL reports, Query Builder reports, complex

filters and metrics, use Data Mining Services, and create custom groups,
consolidations, and complex prompts.

• Document and Dashboard Analysis Guide

Steps to execute, analyze, and format a dashboard in MicroStrategy Web.

• MicroStrategy Report Services Document Creation Guide: Creating

Boardroom Quality Documents

Steps to create Report Services documents, add objects, and format the
document and its objects.

• MicroStrategy Dashboards and Widgets Creation Guide: Creating

Interactive Dashboards for Your Data

Steps to create MicroStrategy Report Services dashboards and add

interactive visualizations.

• MicroStrategy In-memory Analytics Guide

Information to use MicroStrategy OLAP Services features, including

Intelligent Cubes, derived metrics, derived elements, dynamic
aggregation, view filters, and dynamic sourcing.

• MicroStrategy Office User Guide

Instructions to use MicroStrategy Office to work with MicroStrategy

reports and documents in Microsoft® Excel, PowerPoint, and Word, to
analyze, format, and distribute business data.
• MicroStrategy Mobile Analysis Guide: Analyzing Data with
MicroStrategy Mobile

Steps to use MicroStrategy Mobile to view and analyze data, and perform
other business tasks with MicroStrategy reports and documents on a
mobile device.

• MicroStrategy Mobile Design and Administration Guide: A Platform for

Mobile Intelligence

Information and instructions to install and configure MicroStrategy

Mobile, as well as steps for a designer working in MicroStrategy
Developer or MicroStrategy Web to create effective reports and
documents for use with MicroStrategy Mobile.

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Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

• MicroStrategy System Administration Guide: Tuning, Monitoring, and

Troubleshooting Your MicroStrategy Business Intelligence System

Steps to implement, deploy, maintain, tune, and troubleshoot a

MicroStrategy business intelligence system.

• MicroStrategy Supplemental Reference for System Administration:

VLDB Properties, Internationalization, User Privileges, and other
Supplemental Information for Administrators

Steps for administrative tasks such as configuring VLDB properties and

defining data and metadata internationalization, and reference material
for other administrative tasks.

• MicroStrategy Functions Reference

Function syntax and formula components; instructions to use functions

in metrics, filters, attribute forms; examples of functions in business
scenarios.

• MicroStrategy MDX Cube Reporting Guide

Information to integrate MicroStrategy with MDX cube sources. You can

integrate data from MDX cube sources into your MicroStrategy projects
and applications.

• MicroStrategy Operations Manager Guide

Instructions for managing, monitoring, and setting alerts for all of your
MicroStrategy systems from one console. This guide also includes
instructions for setting up and using Enterprise Manager to analyze your
MicroStrategy system usage.

Manual for the Human Resources Analytics Module

• Human Resources Analytics Module Reference

Software Development Kits

• MicroStrategy Developer Library (MSDL)

Information to understand the MicroStrategy SDK, including details

about architecture, object models, customization scenarios, code
samples, and so on.

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Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

• MicroStrategy Web SDK

 The Web SDK is available in the MicroStrategy Developer Library,

which is part of the MicroStrategy SDK.

Documentation for MicroStrategy Portlets

• Enterprise Portal Integration Help

Information to help you implement and deploy MicroStrategy BI within

your enterprise portal, including instructions for installing and
configuring out-of-the-box MicroStrategy Portlets for several major
enterprise portal servers.

This resource is available from http://www.microstrategy.com/

producthelp.

Documentation for MicroStrategy GIS Connectors

• GIS Integration Help

Information to help you integrate MicroStrategy with Geospatial

Information Systems (GIS), including specific examples for integrating
with various third-party mapping services.

This resource is available from http://www.microstrategy.com/

producthelp.

Help

Each MicroStrategy product includes an integrated help system to

complement the various interfaces of the product as well as the tasks that can
be accomplished using the product.

Some of the MicroStrategy help systems require a web browser to be viewed.

For supported web browsers, see the MicroStrategy Readme.

MicroStrategy provides several ways to access help:

• Help button: Use the Help button or ? (question mark) icon on most
software windows to see help for that window.

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Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

• Help menu: From the Help menu or link at the top of any screen, select
MicroStrategy Help to see the table of contents, the Search field, and the
index for the help system.

• F1 key: Press F1 to see context-sensitive help that describes each option in

the software window you are currently viewing.

 For MicroStrategy Web, MicroStrategy Web Administrator, and

MicroStrategy Mobile Server, pressing the F1 key opens the
context-sensitive help for the web browser you are using to access
these MicroStrategy interfaces. Use the Help menu or ? (question
mark) icon to access help for these MicroStrategy interfaces.

Accessing manuals and other documentation sources

The manuals are available from http://www.microstrategy.com/

producthelp, as well as from your MicroStrategy disk or the machine where
MicroStrategy was installed.

 Adobe Reader is required to view these manuals. If you do not have

Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you can download it from
http://get.adobe.com/reader/.

The best place for all users to begin is with the MicroStrategy Basic
Reporting Guide.

To access the installed manuals and other documentation sources, see the
following procedures:
• To access documentation resources from any location, page xxiii
• To access documentation resources on Windows, page xxiii

• To access documentation resources on UNIX and Linux, page xxiv

To access documentation resources from any location

1 Visit http://www.microstrategy.com/producthelp.

To access documentation resources on Windows

1 From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs (or All Programs),
MicroStrategy Documentation, then Product Manuals. A page opens in

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Book Overview and Additional Resources Basic Reporting Guide

your browser showing a list of available manuals in PDF format and other
documentation sources.

2 Click the link for the desired manual or other documentation source.

 Ifthebookmarks are not visible on the left side of a product manual, from
View menu click Bookmarks and Page. This step varies slightly
depending on your version of Adobe Reader.

To access documentation resources on UNIX and Linux

1 Within your UNIX or Linux machine, navigate to the directory where you
installed MicroStrategy. The default location is /opt/MicroStrategy,
or $HOME/MicroStrategy/install if you do not have write access to
/opt/MicroStrategy.

2 From the MicroStrategy installation directory, open the Help folder.

3 Open the Product_Manuals.htm file in a web browser. A page opens in

your browser showing a list of available manuals in PDF format and other
documentation sources.

4 Click the link for the desired manual or other documentation source.

 Ifthebookmarks are not visible on the left side of a product manual, from
View menu click Bookmarks and Page. This step varies slightly
depending on your version of Adobe Reader.

Documentation standards

MicroStrategy online help and PDF manuals (available both online and in
printed format) use standards to help you identify certain types of content.
The following table lists these standards.

 These standards may differ depending on the language of this manual;

some languages have rules that supersede the table below.

Type Indicates

bold • Button names, check boxes, options, lists, and menus that are the focus of actions or
part of a list of such GUI elements and their definitions
Example: Click Select Warehouse.

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Basic Reporting Guide Book Overview and Additional Resources

Type Indicates

italic • Names of other product manuals and documentation resources

• When part of a command syntax, indicates variable information to be replaced by the
user
Example: Type copy c:\filename d:\foldername\filename

Courier • Calculations
font • Code samples
• Registry keys
• Path and file names
• URLs
• Messages displayed in the screen
• Text to be entered by the user
Example: Sum(revenue)/number of months.
Example: Type cmdmgr -f scriptfile.scp and press Enter.

+ A keyboard command that calls for the use of more than one key (for example,
SHIFT+F1).

 A note icon indicates helpful information for specific situations.

 A warning icon alerts you to important information such as potential security risks; these
should be read before continuing.

Education
MicroStrategy Education Services provides a comprehensive curriculum and
highly skilled education consultants. Many customers and partners from
over 800 different organizations have benefited from MicroStrategy
instruction.

Courses that can help you prepare for using this manual or that address some
of the information in this manual include:

• MicroStrategy Developer: Reporting Essentials

• MicroStrategy Web: Report Analysis

• MicroStrategy Web: Report Design

For a detailed description of education offerings and course curriculums,

visit www.microstrategy.com/Education.

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Consulting
MicroStrategy Consulting Services provides proven methods for delivering
leading-edge technology solutions. Offerings include complex security
architecture designs, performance and tuning, project and testing strategies
and recommendations, strategic planning, and more. For a detailed
description of consulting offerings, visit http://www.microstrategy.com/
services-support/consulting.

Technical Support
If you have questions about a specific MicroStrategy product, you should:

1 Consult the product guides, Help, and readme files. Locations to access
each are described above.

2 Consult the MicroStrategy Knowledge Base online at https://

resource.microstrategy.com/support.

 Ayoutechnical administrator in your organization may be able to help

resolve your issues immediately.

3 MicroStrategy Technical Support can be contacted by your company's

Support Liaison. Contact information and the Technical Support policy
information is available at http://www.microstrategy.com/
services-support/support/contact.

Feedback
Please send any comments or suggestions about user documentation for
MicroStrategy products to:

documentationfeedback@microstrategy.com

Send suggestions for product enhancements to:

support@microstrategy.com

When you provide feedback to us, please include the name and version of the
products you are currently using. Your feedback is important to us as we
prepare for future releases.

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xxviii Feedback © 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc.

 1
1. GETTING STARTED WITH
MICROSTRATEGY REPORTING
Logging In and Finding Your Way
Around MicroStrategy

Introduction

This chapter shows you how to log in and get started using MicroStrategy
Web and MicroStrategy Developer. It also provides many examples using the
sample Tutorial project that comes with MicroStrategy. It gives you an
opportunity to familiarize yourself with the Web interface and learn some
basic functionality.

MicroStrategy Web is a user-friendly environment for interactive analysis. A

full set of data browsing, drilling, and reporting development capabilities
enable stream-of-consciousness navigation. Boardroom-quality reports can
be generated using a wide range of charting and formatting options.

MicroStrategy Developer is a business intelligence environment designed to

meet today’s sophisticated business intelligence requirements. It brings
integrated query and reporting, powerful collaborative analytics, and
investigative workflow to every desktop.

This guide provides steps primarily for MicroStrategy Web. Whenever steps
are not in this guide for Developer, click Help in Developer to see detailed
steps to perform tasks in Developer.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

Starting MicroStrategy
Use the appropriate procedure below, depending on whether you are starting
MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Developer.

Starting MicroStrategy Web

You can access MicroStrategy Web from any computer that can run a
browser.

To start MicroStrategy Web

1 In a browser, enter the URL of your company’s MicroStrategy Web site.

MicroStrategy Web opens, displaying the MicroStrategy Tutorial project
as well as any other projects you have permissions to access.

2 Click the project to log in to. (To follow the examples in this guide, click
MicroStrategy Tutorial.) The Login screen appears.

3 Type your User name and Password. Depending on how your

administrator set up your user account, this may be the same login and
password you use to access your computer, or it may be a
MicroStrategy-specific login and password.

4 Click Login.

The Home page opens, displaying icons to view, work with, and create
reports and dashboards. The icons also provide direct access to the most
commonly used areas of the project, such as folders containing existing
reports and dashboards.

5 Click Shared Reports.

• To explore the sample project data in MicroStrategy Tutorial, open

any of the folders and click on any report name to run the report or
dashboard and see the sample data results.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

Starting MicroStrategy Developer

You can access MicroStrategy Developer from any computer on which
Developer has been installed.

To start MicroStrategy Developer

1 From your computer’s Start menu, select Programs (or All Programs),
then MicroStrategy Products, and select Developer.

2 In the User Login window, type your Login ID and Password.

Depending on how your administrator set up your user account, this may
be the same login and password you use to access your computer, or it
may be a MicroStrategy-specific login and password.

3 Click OK.

MicroStrategy Developer opens, displaying the Folder List on the left,

where the MicroStrategy Analytics Module project source appears, as well
as any project sources that your organization may have created. The
MicroStrategy Analytics Module project source includes the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

4 To explore this sample project data, in the Folder List expand

MicroStrategy Tutorial, then expand Public Objects, then expand
Reports. Explore the folders and double-click any report or dashboard to
run it and see the sample data results.

Security privileges
The data you can view and work with may be controlled by privileges that an
administrator has assigned to you. Security settings can limit your data
access to specific projects, certain reports within a project, the ability to use
specific objects on reports, and even how you can explore some data.

If you have any questions about any data you expect to be able to access but
cannot, see your MicroStrategy administrator about having your security
role or privileges adjusted.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

About sample data and the MicroStrategy Tutorial project

MicroStrategy comes with a sample project called MicroStrategy Tutorial.
The theme of the MicroStrategy Tutorial project is activity in a retail store
over a three-year time period. The retail store sells electronics, books,
movies, and music.

The Tutorial project includes sample data, such as actual customer names
and items purchased. It also includes predesigned sample reports. The
reporting areas are grouped logically so you can see reports based on
business roles, MicroStrategy platform capabilities, or various subject areas
such as customer analysis, inventory and supply chain analysis, sales and
profitability analysis, and so on. Reports that are useful in more than one
area are duplicated in all applicable folders.

The Tutorial project lets you familiarize yourself with MicroStrategy because
you can run the sample reports in the Tutorial project and experience various
ways to analyze data.

Most of the reports discussed in this chapter exist in the MicroStrategy

Tutorial project. These sample reports show you how you can build and
generate reports.

To access the Tutorial project, follow the steps in the section above to log in
to MicroStrategy Web or MicroStrategy Developer. Once you have logged in,
you can access the reports in the Tutorial project.

 Warehouse data in the sample MicroStrategy projects is updated

regularly, and these changes are reflected in the documentation
whenever possible. However, the sample reports, documents, objects,
and images in this guide may display warehouse data that no longer
appears in the software.

Sample analysis areas

The MicroStrategy Tutorial project comes with the following groups of

reports:

• Business Roles: This folder contains reports for different types of

business intelligence users, such as billing managers, brand managers,
company executives, sales managers, and operations managers. For
example, brand managers can see a report for Brand Performance by
Region. A billing manager can see data in a report called Invoice
Statements by Selected Customers, as well as a customer-level
transaction detail report.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

• Dashboards and Scorecards: This folder contains several examples of

dashboards. Dashboards provide a distilled view of the business,
organized in logical sections, often containing interactive visualizations
and other adaptive features.

• Enterprise Reporting Documents: This folder contains examples of

different types of enterprise reporting documents, such as scorecards and
dashboards, managed metrics reports, production and operational
reports, invoices and statements, and business reports. The documents
and dashboards in this folder are a sample of the types of documents that
can be built using MicroStrategy Report Services.

• MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities: This folder contains examples of

the sophisticated capabilities within the MicroStrategy platform. Use the
reports and dashboards to get a better feel for platform functionality. For
example, the Graph Styles folder contains examples of most of the graph
types that can be created in MicroStrategy. The Ad Hoc Reporting folder
shows examples of commonly used features like sorting and thresholds.

• Subject Areas: This folder contains reports that cover various topics
such as customer analysis, enterprise performance management, human
resources analysis, inventory and supply chain analysis, sales and
profitability analysis, and supplier analysis.

Opening a report
Reports that display your business data are the focus and goal of business
intelligence. Reports allow you to gather business insight through data
analysis. The results displayed in any MicroStrategy report are often a
starting point for further investigation.

Use the steps below to open a sample report in the Tutorial project, to
become familiar with a standard grid report in MicroStrategy.

To open a report

1 Log into MicroStrategy Web. Follow the steps above to log in (Starting
MicroStrategy Web, page 2).

2 In the Tutorial project, click Shared Reports.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

3 Expand Subject Areas, expand Sales and Profitability Analysis, and

then click Category Sales Report to run the report and see the sample
data results. This is a MicroStrategy grid report.

Use the rest of this chapter to help you understand how to read a grid report.
The information you learn will help you throughout the rest of this guide.

Components of a report
The image below shows a standard grid report in MicroStrategy.

The components of a grid report are described below.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

Rows and columns

On a typical report, each row represents a business concept, such as
products, employees, customers, stores, and so on. MicroStrategy calls these
business concepts “attributes,” because they represent the many important
attributes of a business.

While the rows represent business concepts, the columns of a typical report
represent financial calculations that are important to the business, such as
inventory, sales, costs, profits, salaries, and so on. MicroStrategy calls these
calculations “metrics”.

• Attribute: A business concept that provides context in which data is

relevant. In the example of a report that shows sales in the Southeast,
Southeast is the attribute. An attribute on a report serves as a label for a
group of metrics.

• Metric: A calculation that shows the numbers you want to see. In the
example of a report that shows sales in the Southeast, sales is the metric.
Metric calculations can show information at simple levels as well as at
complex levels, such as displaying sales trends, growth patterns,
percent-to-total contributions, and profit analysis. A metric on a report
shows a list of values used for analytical calculations.

Cells
Each individual cell on a report contains a single value which is produced by
calculating data gathered from somewhere in your organization’s data
source. That data is the focus of business analysis in a reporting
environment.

In the report shown above, for example, the revenue forecast for the first
quarter of the year (Q1) for your Art & Architecture books (in the first row) is
much lower than the revenue forecast for the same books in Q2. This
difference may represent a general slump in sales after the US holiday
period, or some other customer behavior specific to the retail industry. The
analysis of this data might lead to a decision to prepare a sale or other special
promotion on Art & Architecture books for Q1, to attempt to counteract the
forecasted revenue reduction.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

Report types
You can view a MicroStrategy report from different perspectives, depending
on the type of work that you want to perform.

Grids
A grid report is the most commonly used type of report. Grid view displays
grid reports using a formatted, cross-tabular display of the report data. Most
business intelligence analysis is performed using this view. The following
figure displays the Grid view of a report.

To see a report in Grid view in MicroStrategy Web, from the toolbar click the
Grid icon .

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

Graphs
A graph report is a representation of data in a visual format that can help you
see overall trends easily, identify medians and exceptions, and so on. You
display report data as a graph using Graph view. There are many different
graph styles you can choose from to display your report data most effectively.
The following figure displays the Graph view of a report in the bar graph
style.

The graph report above and the grid report on the previous page are the
same report, seen in two different views. Comparing these two views of the
same data helps you see how a graph report can be more useful than a grid
report for identifying trends, in this case, trends across certain products. The
grid report is generally more useful than a graph report for identifying
specific numbers you may need for financial reports and so on.

To see a report in Graph view in MicroStrategy Web, from the toolbar click
the Graph icon .

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

Grids and graphs combined

Grid and Graph view is a combination display of the Grid view and the Graph
view of a report, side by side. The following figure displays the Grid and
Graph view of a report.

To see a report in Grid and Graph view in MicroStrategy Web, from the
toolbar click the Grid and Graph icon .

SQL view
You can see the SQL used to generate the report. Viewing the SQL provides a
good way to troubleshoot and fine-tune the selection of data that is retrieved
from your data source and displayed in reports. SQL view also includes
various execution statistics for a report, such as the number of rows, number

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

of columns, the time it took to execute, and so on. The following figure
displays the SQL view of a report in Developer.

To see the SQL for a report in MicroStrategy Web, from the Tools menu
select Report Details Page. The SQL is displayed in the SQL Statement area.
Click Show Advanced Details below the SQL Statement area to see
execution statistics for the report.

Displaying multiple reports in a single

presentation
Reports are a common way to analyze your business data in MicroStrategy.
This guide generally uses reports as examples.

MicroStrategy also offers other ways to display data. While working in

MicroStrategy Web or Developer you might see boardroom-quality business
presentations, invoices that go out to customers, all kinds of management
reports and dashboards, and so on. These alternatives are described below.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

Visual Insight dashboards

Visual Insight allows you to quickly create a customized, interactive
dashboard that can be used to explore business data. You can create a Visual
Insight dashboard using data in your organization’s data warehouse storage,
or by quickly importing data from an Excel or other file. You can perform
manipulations on the data to customize the information that is included in
the dashboard, and add visual representations of the data (called
visualizations) to the dashboard to make the data easier to interpret. Visual
Insight dashboards can be viewed in MicroStrategy Web or on an iPad with
MicroStrategy Mobile. You can share a dashboard through email, by linking
to the dashboard, or by embedding the dashboard in a web page.

Visual Insight allows you to streamline the tasks required to create a polished
dashboard. For example, you can:

• Add, rearrange, or remove report objects quickly from a visualization in a

dashboard.
• Create additional visualizations to display the data in multiple ways, then
easily modify, rearrange, or resize visualizations in a dashboard.

• Add filtering based on report objects to a dashboard, to allow users to

only display the information they are interested in.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

• Add thresholds to a dashboard, to change the display of data based on the

value of a metric.

Report Services dashboards and documents

MicroStrategy Report Services dashboards and documents are available with
MicroStrategy Report Services. Dashboards are a display of data from
multiple reports with special formatting added, with interactive components,
and so on.

An example of a Report Services dashboard is shown below:

The example above shows the California Population Analysis dashboard, a

sample dashboard in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

An example of a simple Report Services document is shown below:

The image above shows the Balanced Scorecard Strategy Map document, a
sample document in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

A document or dashboard can contain data from one or more MicroStrategy

reports. Documents and dashboards can appear in almost as many ways as
you can imagine and are generally formatted to suit your business needs, in a
single display of presentation quality. Documents and dashboards allow you
to display your business data in a user-friendly way that is suitable for
presentation to management for boardroom-quality material.

To see sample dashboards in MicroStrategy Web

1 Log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial sample project. For steps, see

Starting MicroStrategy Web.

2 Click Shared Reports.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

3 Click the Enterprise Reporting Documents folder.

4 Click any of the documents listed on the right side of MicroStrategy Web,
to execute it and see the results.

To see sample dashboards in Developer

1 Log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial sample project. For steps, see

Starting MicroStrategy Developer.

2 Expand the Public Objects folder, then expand the Reports folder.

3 Click the Enterprise Reporting Documents folder.

4 Double-click any of the documents listed on the right side of Developer,

to execute it and see the results.

OLAP Services
MicroStrategy OLAP Services lets MicroStrategy Developer, Web, and Office
users make use of features that slice and dice data in reports without
re-executing SQL against your data source. This improves performance by
resulting in quicker data display within a report as users analyze and
manipulate the data. Information on OLAP Services is provided in the
In-memory Analytics Guide.

Determining whether you have OLAP Services

In MicroStrategy Web, open a report, then click the Tools menu to expand it.
If Report Objects appears as an option, you have access to OLAP Services.

In Developer, open a report, then click the View menu. If Report Objects
appears as an option, you have access to OLAP Services.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

View filters
A view filter is different from a report filter, which restricts how much data is
retrieved from the data warehouse. A view filter dynamically restricts the
data being displayed on the report without re-executing the report against
the warehouse. This capability provides improved response time and
decreased database load.

You can use a report filter and view filter on the same report. The report filter
returns a set of data for the report, which the view filter then further restricts.
Therefore, you should avoid defining contradictory filtering criteria in both.
Otherwise, you many encounter situations where no data is displayed.

For details on creating view filters and using them to analyze data, see the
In-memory Analytics Guide.

Derived metrics
Derived metrics perform calculations on-the-fly with the data available in a
report. They are an easy way to present data already available on the report
in different ways, providing further analysis of data. You can use derived
metrics to quickly perform on-the-fly analyses such as margins,
contributions, and differences between metrics included on the report.

These metrics are created based on existing metrics in the report. Since
derived metrics are evaluated in memory, their computation does not require
any SQL execution in the database.

Since derived metrics are created within a report, they can only be used for
the report in which they are created. Derived metrics cannot be saved as
individual objects in the project, and therefore cannot be applied to other
reports in the project.

For details on creating derived metrics and using them to analyze data, see
the In-memory Analytics Guide.

Derived elements
An attribute is a business concept that reflects your stored data, such as Year
or City. The elements of a business attribute are the unique values for that
attribute. For example, 2006 and 2007 are elements of the Year attribute,

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

while New York and London are elements of the City attribute. On a report,
attributes are chosen to build the report, but once the report is executed, the
attribute’s elements are displayed in the rows or columns.

A derived element is a grouping of attribute elements on a report. These

groups provide a new view of report data for analysis and formatting
purposes. For example, you can group data for the months of December,
January, and February into a single element that combines and displays the
data for the entire winter season.

Rather than having to define consolidations or custom groups, you can use
derived elements to create these groups on-the-fly while viewing a report.
Derived elements are evaluated in the report without regenerating or
re-executing SQL.

Derived elements are defined by using a list, filter, or calculation to combine

attribute element data.

For details on creating derived elements and using them to analyze data, see
the In-memory Analytics Guide.

Dynamic aggregation
Dynamic aggregation allows you to change the level of report aggregation
on-the-fly, while you are reviewing the report results. This feature allows
metric values to be aggregated at different levels depending on the attributes
included on the report without having to re-execute the report against the
data warehouse. Dynamic aggregation occurs when the attributes included
on the report layout change. The attributes included on the report layout
change when you move an attribute or attribute form off of the report layout
to the Report Objects pane, or when you move an attribute or attribute form
from the Report Objects pane back onto the report layout. As objects
included on the report layout change, metric values are dynamically
aggregated to the new level of the report.

For details on using dynamic aggregation to analyze data, see the In-memory
Analytics Guide.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

Printing, emailing, and exporting reports and

data

Printing a report

To print a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click any report to execute it.

2 From the Home menu, select the view you want to print: Grid, Graph, or
Grid and Graph view.

3 From the Home menu, select Print. The Print Options page opens. For
details to set various print options, click Help.

4 Print the file from either the PDF preview or from your browser.

Emailing a report
You can send a report to any email address.

Prerequisites
• You must have the Use Send Now privilege.
• You must have the Web Subscribe to History List privilege to send a
report or document to the History List.

• You must have the Use Link to History List in Email privilege to send a
link to the location of a report or document in the History List via email.

To email a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the name of a report to execute it.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

2 From the Home menu, select Send Now. The Send Now dialog box
opens.

3 Click To to locate the email address of the recipient. The Recipients

Browser opens.

4 Choose an address from the Available list. If you do not see the correct
email address to use, type the Address name and Physical address in
the respective fields and click Add to Recipients to add a new address.

5 Click OK to return to the Send Now dialog box.

6 From the Send drop-down list, specify where the report is delivered by
choosing one of the following options. The options vary depending on the
privileges you are assigned, as described in Prerequisites above.

• Data in email: The report or document is displayed in the email.

• Data in email and to History List: The report or document is

displayed in the email and is also delivered to the History List.

• Data and link to History List in email: The report or document is

displayed in the email, along with a link to the History List location of
the report or document.

• Link to History List in email: A link to the History List location of the
report or document is provided in the email.

7 From the Delivery Format drop-down list, select the format in which to
send the report. The options are HTML, Excel, and PDF. When Excel or
PDF is chosen, the report is included as an attachment in the email; you
can reduce the size of the attachment by selecting the Compress
contents check box.

8 If the delivery option is Plain Text, you can specify the delimiter
character to use to separate values in a report, such as a comma or tab.
From the Delimiter drop-down list, select one of the following:
• To choose a delimiter from the list, select the delimiter you want to
use, such as Comma or Space.

• To specify your own delimiter, select Other, then type the character
you want to use as the delimiter in the field.

9 Select the Expand page-by fields check box to print all objects in the
Page-by drop-down list when the report or document is emailed.

10 In the Subject line, type a description for the emailed report.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

11 If you want a message to be displayed in the body of the email, type the
text in the Message field.

12 To include the report or document in a zip file:

a Expand Advanced Options by clicking the plus sign.

b Select the Password Protect Zip File check box if you want to protect
the zip file by providing a password. Type a password for the zip file.

c Type the name for the zip file in the Zip File Name field.

13 If you have selected a contact group as the recipient of the report or

document, by default MicroStrategy uses the security filter of the contact
group as a whole when delivering the report or document. To use the
separate security filters for each member of the subscribed contact group
instead, select the Use contact security for each group member check
box.

14 Click OK. The report is sent to the designated email address.

Exporting data
You can export reports in a variety of formats, such as HTML, Microsoft
Excel, and plain text. A report’s designer determines which export formats
are available for a report, based on what makes sense for that report. Each
format is described in detail below, to help you decide what format suits your
purposes:

• PDF: You can export the report to an Adobe PDF viewer, in .pdf format.
After the report is exported, the report content is displayed in an Adobe
PDF file.
• Excel with plain text: You can export the report to Microsoft Excel, in
.xls format. After the report is exported, the content of the report is
displayed using the default settings in Microsoft Excel. The structure and
format of the report as it is displayed in MicroStrategy Web is not
retained. For large report results, this export option is recommended over
Excel with formatting.

• CSV file format: You can export the report to a comma-separated values
file (CSV). After the report is exported, the report content is displayed in a
CSV file as plain text. This format is suitable for Microsoft Access and
Lotus 1-2-3. The structure and format of the report as it is displayed in
MicroStrategy Web is not retained.

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Basic Reporting Guide Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting 1

• Excel with formatting: You can export the report to Microsoft Excel, in
.xls format. After the report is exported, the report displays with the same
formatting, color, and structure that appears in MicroStrategy Web.

Microsoft Excel does not support all colors that browsers do, so some
colors may differ after export.
 If the report is large, it is recommended that you use the Excel with
plain text export option.

• HTML: You can export the report to an HTML editor or browser, in .html
format. After the report is exported, the report is displayed in an HTML
page. The structure and format of the report as it appears in
MicroStrategy Web is retained.

• Plain text: You can export the report to a text editor, in .txt format. After
the report is exported, the content of the report displays in a plain text
page. The structure and format of the report as it appears in
MicroStrategy Web is not retained. You can choose a comma, tab,
semicolon, or space to separate the fields of text.

Before you export, you can adjust several export options that allow you to
specify which report details are exported, whether the data should be
exported to PDF or another application, and more.

 Tolanguage,
export a grid report that contains characters in a double-byte
such as Simplified Chinese or Japanese, to a PDF, your
computer should be using that double-byte language (for example,
Japanese Windows). If you are using an English environment, to
export double-byte characters, a report designer must change the font
of the attribute and metric names to the font type that the locale
supports. For steps, see Formatting metrics on a specific report,
page 392 or the MicroStrategy Help.

To configure export settings in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a report.

2 From the Home menu, select Export, and then select the required output
format.

 Note the following:

– You can modify export options in the User Preferences page.
For more information, click Help in MicroStrategy Web.

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 1 Getting Started with MicroStrategy Reporting Basic Reporting Guide

– You can modify project-wide graph settings in the User

Preferences page. For more information, click Help in
MicroStrategy Web.

3 Make any necessary changes to the export options. Click Help for details
about each setting.

To export data in MicroStrategy Web

1 From the Home menu, select Export, and then select the required output
format. The Export Options page opens.

2 Make any necessary changes to the export settings and click Export. The
report automatically displays in the selected application.

22 Printing, emailing, and exporting reports and data © 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc.
 2
2. FORMATTING A REPORT
Thresholds, Banding, Renaming,
Autostyles, Graph Formatting, and More

Introduction

Formatting a report involves highlighting certain data to enhance analysis, as

well as changing the overall display or look and feel of a report. You can:

• Highlight important numbers

• Put the focus on specific sets of data

• Rename an object on the report, such as a business attribute or a metric

calculation

• Apply your corporate look to a report for a business presentation

Using the banding option, you can group rows or columns of report data
using colors to enhance readability and make it easier to identify business
concepts on which you would like to focus.

MicroStrategy’s autostyles are collections of formatting choices that can all

be applied at the same time with a single click. This chapter tells you how to
use autostyles and how to create and save your own.

Report formatting can be performed in Grid view, or it can be performed in

Design view (for report designers). Grid view shows you the results of your

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

changes immediately as you format the report. (For an introduction to

different views and how to access them, see Report types, page 8.)

You can always click Help to find detailed steps to perform all types of
formatting.

Ideas for formatting

Formatting can be as fine-grained as you choose and as your needs require.
Steps for all of the ideas below are in this chapter.

• Individual cells in grid reports: Format individual cells of data in a grid

report when a single data value is important to call attention to or you
want it to be easy and quick to locate in a large report. Use thresholds to
have values formatted automatically. You can also determine a value to
display, such as the word EMPTY, when a cell would otherwise appear
empty.

• Rows and columns in grid reports: You can hide a metric column on a
report so that it does not display when the report is executed again. You
can also apply bands of color to groups of report rows or columns, to
make large quantities of data easier to analyze. You can rename row and
column headers so the object names are more meaningful to yourself or
other analysts. You can also manually make columns narrower or wider,
or adjust row height, to fine-tune your report display.

• Graph reports: You can select an appropriate style for your graph (pie,
bar, line, 3D Surface, Gantt, and so on) and format the colors of series
(for example, the colors of pie slices in a pie graph). You can also
reposition and resize elements such as the graph legend, titles, and axis
labels.
• Autostyles: MicroStrategy comes with several presentation styles for
displaying reports, called autostyles. Each autostyle automatically applies
a set of formatting that includes color scheme, font style, and font type to
a report. Autostyles let you standardize formatting across many reports.

Formatting a grid report

This section provides information on the following formatting tasks:

• Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds, page 25

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

• Formatting null values and blank cells, page 35

• Renaming row and column headers, page 37

• Hiding and re-displaying a metric column, page 42

• Resizing a column or row: Column handles and Fixed Column Width

mode, page 44

• Formatting groups of report rows or columns: Banding, page 47

• Keeping row and column names visible: Locking headers, page 50

• Formatting report borders, page 51

Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds

Individual cell data can be automatically formatted differently than the data
in the rest of the report. Data that is formatted differently calls attention to
itself, and makes that data easier to locate for analysis.

In a simple example, for the report shown below, you want to highlight the
subcategories for which the revenue is greater than $1,000,000.

You can achieve this by applying a threshold to the Revenue metric. The
threshold is defined to automatically apply a gray background and bold font

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

whenever values meet the threshold’s condition. The resulting report is

shown below. Notice that revenue greater than $1,000,000 is highlighted.

A threshold’s condition can be as simple or as complex as you want.

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

Compare the example above to the example below. The image below shows
the Tutorial report named Product Sales Results By Region. Thresholds are
displayed for the % Change in Revenue metric, and for the Revenue metric.

When data is set up to automatically appear with special formatting

depending on certain conditions, such as sales over $1 million or inventory
below 50, this is called conditional formatting. It is special formatting that is
applied to values when certain conditions are met. The data that meets the
condition is considered to be data that has passed the threshold of the
condition; once data passes the threshold, the formatting is applied. So
thresholds are cells of data that are formatted differently from the rest of the
data on a report; the formatting is applied dynamically, whenever the report
is re-executed.

 An administrator can create an alert-based subscription to ensure that

end users are automatically notified by email when a metric on a
report meets specific threshold conditions. This allows email
recipients to be alerted to data that is likely to be important for
making business decisions. An administrator can also have formatting
applied to metric values in the report, to draw immediate attention to
the data that meets the alert conditions. See the System
Administration Guide for details on alerts.

Thresholds highlight particular data in a report by displaying special cell

formats, symbols, images, or replacement text. In the image above, the gray
diamond-shaped symbol replaces (and represents) all values that represent a
small increase in revenue from the previous year. “Small increase” is defined
as revenue changes between 0 and 5 percent. The yellow diamond-shaped
symbol represents a medium decrease in revenue from the previous year,
with “medium decrease” defined as between -10 and 0. Values that show a

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

medium decrease for the Revenue metric are displayed in red. Each of these
thresholds makes analyzing large amounts of data easier because symbols
are easy to locate, and different colors are quickly identified.

 ToMicroStrategy
see threshold images you have added to a report, view the report in
Web. Threshold images are also visible if the report is
placed in a Report Services document in Developer or Web, or a
Visual Insight dashboard in MicroStrategy Web.

You can use certain types of threshold formatting on a graph report. For
details to apply a threshold to a graph, see Formatting conditional data on a
graph: Thresholds, page 64.

Steps are below to create thresholds in MicroStrategy Web.

Threshold formatting ideas

To create a report that looks like a scorecard, use thresholds and assign
different colors to different ranges among the values in the report. This
allows you to classify the information into broad classes. The result shows
banded values color-coded according to where they fall in your chosen
number ranges. Sort the column by value and your colors will be grouped
appropriately. (For steps to sort data, see Sorting data, page 74.)

With thresholds you can do the following:

• Define an unlimited number of conditions for each metric calculation on

the report. Each condition can have a simple or complex expression. You
can apply thresholds to any of the metrics that are part of the report
definition.
• Define the following formatting properties for the cells that meet the
threshold condition:

Font type, size, style, and color

Cell background color (fill)

Alignment

Number format

Borders and patterns

• Replace the cell value with any text you want for each cell value that
meets the condition specified. For example, you can replace all values
where Dollar Sales is greater than $5000 with the text “Exceeded Sales.”

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

• Replace the cell value with an image when the condition is true.

• Replace the cell value with a symbol, selected from a predefined list of
symbols. You can also set symbols to be switched back and forth between
the symbol and the underlying value.

MicroStrategy comes with several default thresholds.

Prerequisites
• DHTML must be enabled. See the MicroStrategy Web Help for steps.

• Decide what condition the metric values must meet to have the threshold
formatting applied. Common examples of a threshold’s condition include
sales that exceed a certain amount, revenue that falls below a certain
percentage, or employee resource numbers that drop below a particular
number.

You can use attributes or other metrics on the report to define a

threshold’s condition. For example, in the following report, the Trend
Lead Conversion column includes a green + (plus) or red - (minus)
threshold to highlight when the month-to-month trend is positive or
negative. The month-to-month trend is determined by comparing the
first and second columns. This means the condition causing the threshold
to appear in the last column is based on whatever values appear in the
first and second columns, as shown below:

• Decide what you want to be displayed on your report when the condition
is met. Common examples include displaying important numbers in red,
or in white font with a red background, or displaying a red stop sign or a
green traffic light in place of certain data.

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

Creating, applying, and hiding thresholds

MicroStrategy Web comes with several default thresholds:

• Quick thresholds: Quick thresholds allow you to apply green, red, or

yellow colors or symbols to metric values on your report. You can
automatically format the thresholds, and add them to a report quickly.
See Creating a quick threshold, page 30.

• Visual thresholds: Visual thresholds allow end users to use range

expressions (such as Greater Than, Less Than, or Top N%) to determine
whether a metric has met the condition. If a metric meets the condition,
end users can apply special formatting to the values, or replace the values
with an image or a symbol. See Creating a threshold for a metric based
on a metric: Visual thresholds, page 31.

• Advanced thresholds: A Web Professional can use advanced thresholds to

apply formatting to a report or a grid in a document, based on multiple
metrics and expressions that are more complex than visual thresholds.
This allows for very specific conditions to be defined. Advanced
thresholds allow Web Professionals to create conditions based on metrics
or attributes, and a single advanced threshold can be based on multiple
conditions. For steps to create an advanced threshold, see Formatting
conditional values on a grid: Thresholds, page 394.

Steps are below to create a quick threshold and a visual threshold. Steps are
also below to apply gradient colors to a threshold and to hide a threshold.

Creating a quick threshold

Quick thresholds apply green, red, or yellow colors or symbols to metric

values on your report. Thresholds allow you to easily distinguish metric
values that fall within certain ranges.

Quick threshold formatting is applied according to the following metric value

ranges. By default, quick thresholds are ranked in descending order.

• Green: The top 20% of the metric values

• Red: The bottom 20% of the metric values

• Yellow: (Optional) The middle range of the metric values.

For example, if you enable quick thresholds on a report that shows daily
revenue data, values that fall within the top 20% of revenue are highlighted
in green, while values in the lowest 20% are highlighted in red.

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

To create quick thresholds on a grid report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run a report. Ensure that it is displayed in either

Grid view or Grid and Graph view.

2 Select a metric header on the grid report. To select multiple metric

headers, hold CTRL and select the headers.

3 Select Data on the menu bar to display the Data toolbar icons.

4 Click the arrow next to the Quick Thresholds icon and select an
option depending on how you want to format the metric values. You can
format the metric values in the following ways:

• Highlight the top and bottom 20% ranges of values in green and red.

• Change the font color of the top and bottom 20% ranges of values to
green and red.

• Replace the top and bottom 20% ranges with green and red symbols
of arrows, stoplights, or flags.
• Replace all values with green, yellow, or red symbols of arrows,
stoplights, or flags. Green and red represent the top and bottom 20%
ranges of values and yellow represents the middle range of values.

• Replace all metric values with five different icons, each representing a
20% range of values.
Once you have selected an option from the list, you can click the Quick
Thresholds icon to apply the same formatting to other metrics.

Creating a threshold for a metric based on a metric: Visual thresholds

Visual thresholds are thresholds defined for a metric, which are based on
that same metric or on another metric. Visual thresholds use range
expressions (such as greater than, less than, between, top, bottom). Visual
thresholds consist of one expression, for example, a visual threshold can
calculate revenue that is greater than $10,000 and apply special formatting
to the values that match the condition or can replace the values with images
or symbols.

You can define your own visual thresholds with custom formatting for a
report. For example, if you want all revenue values over $50,000 formatted
with red Arial font, you can define a threshold for that range of values and

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

with that formatting. On the same report, you can have all revenue values
below $10,000 be replaced by an image of an arrow pointing down. The
procedure below describes how to define and format a visual threshold.

To define and format a visual threshold

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run a report. Ensure that it is displayed in either

Grid view or Grid and Graph view.

2 From the Data menu, select Visual Threshold Editor. The Visual
Threshold Editor opens.

Specify the threshold's conditions

3 In the Thresholds for drop-down list, select the metric for which to
create the threshold. The list includes all the metrics defined for the
report.

4 In the Properties area, click Type. From the Type drop-down list, select
the type of condition to use for the threshold. For example, if you want to
define Daily Revenue greater than $40,000, select Value from the
drop-down list. This ensures that the threshold is based on an actual
value, in this case, $40,000. If you want to define a threshold for the Top
5% of Daily Revenue, select Highest %.

5 From the Based on drop-down list, select whether the threshold

condition is based on the metric Itself or on another metric on the report.

6 Click the Apply icon.

7 Use the horizontal slider bar to define a value and to format your new
threshold, as shown below. Each thumb on the bar represents a different
threshold value.

8 To add a new threshold value, click the Add Threshold icon. A thumb
is added to the horizontal slider bar. The thumb's initial location differs
depending on the type of condition you specified above. You can click on
the thumb and add a new value in the Enter Value field, or you can move
the thumb to a new value.

9 Add and shift additional thumbs as necessary. For example, if you want a
threshold to display green font for all values above 1 million, and red font

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

for all values below 20,000, you must have two thumbs on the horizontal
slider bar, one representing data greater than 1 million and another
representing data less than 20,000.

10 To delete all of the thumbs from the bar, click Remove at the top of the
Visual Threshold Editor.

11 To format the threshold, do one of the following:

• To format a specific threshold condition: Double-click the threshold

thumb to format. The Format dialog box opens.

• To format a particular range of values, which are represented by the

area between two thumbs, double-click anywhere in the space
between the two thumbs that you want to format. The Format dialog
box opens.

12 Specify a name for the threshold in the Name field, if desired.

13 To replace the threshold values with text, an image, or a quick symbol,

select the Replace Data check box and select one of the following from
the drop-down list.

• Replace Text: Replace data with any text you specify. For example, a
report shows the financial values of various sales opportunities. For
those sales opportunities that have been lost, you might display the
word LOST in red, rather than displaying the financial value.

If you select this option, type the text with which to replace the values
in the corresponding text field.
• Quick Symbol: Replace the normally displayed data with a common
symbol. For example, a report shows the financial contribution of
various sales groups to overall sales office activity. For the monthly
trend column you could show either a green plus + or a red minus –
symbol to represent positive or negative contribution trends.

If you select this option, select the symbol with which to replace the
values from the corresponding drop-down menu.

• Image: Replace the normally displayed data with an image, such as an

arrow or green dot. You can specify the path to the image by typing the
address using one of the following:

– Absolute path: The default, for example, c:/images/img.jpg

– Relative to HTML Document directory: A relative path from the

document directory where the image is stored, for example,
images/img.jpg

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

– On the network: A path on the local area network, which is in a

UNC (Universal Naming Convention) format, for example, 
//machine_name/shared_folder/img.jpg

– On the web: A URL to an image file, for example: http://

www.microstrategy.com/images/img.jpg

• Make appropriate selections within the Font, Number, Alignment,

and Color and Lines tabs to change the font, color, alignment, and
other formatting options of data that meets the defined condition.
Click Help for more information on the options available.

14 Click OK to apply the changes and close the editor.

Applying gradient colors to visual thresholds

A gradient blends two colors to create a gradual color change in the

background of a visual threshold. You can select the two colors, as well as the
direction of the blending. The direction is called the Gradient Variant, and
your options are:

• Left to Right

• Right to Left

• Top to Bottom

• Bottom to Top

To apply a gradient to a visual threshold

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a threshold as described in Creating a

threshold for a metric based on a metric: Visual thresholds, page 31.

2 From the Data menu, select Visual Threshold Editor. The Visual
Threshold Editor opens.

3 Click the Format icon . The Format dialog box opens.

4 On the Color and Lines tab, open the Color drop-down menu and select
Gradients. The Gradients dialog box opens.

5 Select a color from the Color 1 drop-down menu.

6 Select a color from the Color 2 drop-down menu.

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

7 Select the shading style from the following:

• To shade horizontally, select Horizontal . Then select the Variant to

apply (you can choose to shade from left to right or from right to left).

• To shade vertically, select Vertical. Then select the Variant to apply

(you can choose to shade from top to bottom or from bottom to top).

8 Click OK. The Gradients dialog box closes.

9 Click Apply to apply the gradient color to the visual threshold.

10 Click OK. The Format dialog box closes.

Hiding thresholds in a report

Once you have created your thresholds, you can choose to display them or
hide them in the report.

To hide thresholds on your report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report in which you have created your
thresholds. Ensure that it is displayed in either Grid view or Grid and
Graph view.

2 From the Data menu, select Toggle Thresholds. The thresholds are no
longer visible on the report.

Formatting null values and blank cells

An empty cell of data on a grid report represents a null value. A null value is
an unknown value, because it can be the result of an empty area of your data
source, or the result of the calculations and cross-tabbing that are sometimes
performed on a grid report.

For example, a null value in your data source can occur if a customer omits
his birth date or another piece of personal information. If your data source
does not contain data in a particular field and you pivot the rows and
columns on the resulting report, the resultant cross-tabbing may produce a

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

null value. In the image below, the Internet Revenue column does not have
data for display and returns empty cells when the report is run.

You can replace null values with a specific value, such as a zero or the word
NULL or NO VALUE as shown in the image below, so that cells do not
appear as empty on a report. The replacement can be for the final report
display only, or for the calculation of the report data. Replacements do not
change any values in your data source.

 Null value replacements are specified in MicroStrategy Developer.

MicroStrategy Web displays null values in the format designated for
the report in Developer.

To replace a null value with a specific value

1 In Developer, open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options.

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

3 Expand the Display category and select the Null Values subcategory.

4 To replace a null value for the final report display only, enter the
replacement value (such as a zero) in the Null Display Settings area for
any of the scenarios listed:

• An empty value is retrieved from your data source.

• An empty value is calculated in the cross-tabulation process.

• An empty value appears when the report is sorted.

5 To replace a null value during the calculation of report data, enter the
replacement value in the Aggregation Null Values box.

6 Click OK.

Renaming row and column headers

You can give a report’s row and column headers meaningful names by
renaming them. By creating an alias for an object on a report, the object can
be displayed on that report with a different name, without changing its name
in the MicroStrategy project.

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

For example, in the image of the report below, one metric is named Web
Sales and another metric is named Non-Web Sales.

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Basic Reporting Guide Formatting a Report 2

You might rename the first metric as Internet Revenue, and the second
metric as Main Street Revenue as shown in the image below, so that your
business audience can more easily understand what the values mean.

You can rename any business attribute (usually a row header) or metric
calculation (usually a column header) on the report grid. This feature, called
aliasing, lets you name an object on a report something that makes sense to
you, within the context of a given report.

 This alias feature is for report display purposes only. Creating aliases
with this feature does not change object names as they appear in the
project, as they are stored in the MicroStrategy object repository
(metadata), or as they are stored in your data source.

The alias feature also allows you to display descriptive information about an
object on a report and edit the description that exists. You can use this to
make object descriptions more meaningful for other users who will view this
report.

The following is a list of the objects you can rename on a report:

• Attribute: A business concept, such as Product, Employee, Month,

Region, and so on. The individual characteristics of an attribute are
attribute elements. For example, 2006 and 2007 are elements of the Year
attribute, while New York and London are elements of the City attribute.

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On a report, attributes are chosen to build the report, but once the report
is executed, the attribute’s elements are displayed in the rows or columns.

• Metric: A business calculation, such as Revenue, Profit, Employee

Headcount, or Probability of Purchase. Some metrics are key
performance indicators (KPIs) because they present crucial progress
information at a glance. Metrics commonly appear in the columns of a
grid report.

• Consolidation: A selected group of attribute elements used just like an

attribute on a report. For example, suppose you want to see each season
of the year as a separate row on a report, but Season does not exist as an
attribute in your project. A consolidation allows you to group together the
elements of the Month of Year attribute into various seasons and place
them on the report. In this example, the consolidation will contain four
consolidation elements, one for each season. Consolidations are covered
in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

• Custom group: A special filter for report data. Custom groups are covered
in more detail in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Creating an alias

You can create an alias by renaming a row or column header.

To alias an object name

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, choose Rename/Edit Objects. The Rename/Edit

Objects dialog box (DHTML) or panel (HTML) is displayed.

3 Select the object to rename from the Object drop-down list.

 Derived metric: If you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services (see

OLAP Services, page 15), you may have a derived metric on the
report. If you click on a data cell of a derived metric, you can
change the syntax of the derived metric formula in the formula
box.

4 Type the Name for the object and click OK to save your changes.

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Determining whether aliases are used on a report

You can review any report to determine whether a column or row header is
an alias or shows the original column or row name that comes from your
MicroStrategy project.

To determine whether an alias is used on a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Rename/Edit Objects. The Rename/Edit

Objects dialog box opens.

3 From the Object drop-down list, select the object for which you want to
determine whether an alias is used. In the example image below, the
object Store shows that it is an alias for the Call Center object listed in the
Definition area.

Changing from aliases to original names

You can change all row and column names from their alias to their original
name.

To quickly reset all names

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open a grid report.

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

2 From the Data menu, select Reset Data.

Hiding and re-displaying a metric column

You can hide a metric object (usually a column) on a grid report, yet that
metric’s data will still be included in any subtotals and grand totals you
might have displayed. You can also display any previously hidden metric
column so that the metric’s data now shows in your report.

Depending on whether you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services, the

procedure is different to hide a metric column. To determine whether you
have OLAP Services, see OLAP Services, page 15. Use the appropriate
procedure below to hide or re-display a metric column.

With OLAP Services

Hiding a metric column

If you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services, you can hide any metric column by
simply dragging it off the grid report into the Report Objects pane to the left
of your report. (If you do not see the Report Objects pane and you have OLAP
Services, from the View menu select Report Objects.)

Displaying a previously hidden metric column

You can show any hidden metric column by right-clicking the metric in the
Report Objects pane and selecting Add to Grid.

Without OLAP Services

Hiding a metric column

To hide a metric column on a report

1 Open a grid report.

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The example image below shows a report with two metric columns,
Revenue and Percent Growth.

2 From the Format menu, select Resize Columns and Rows. The Resize
Columns and Rows dialog box is displayed.

3 Under Columns, choose the Fixed option. In the drop-down list

underneath, select the metric you wish to hide.

4 Enter 0 in the Width field.

5 Click OK.

The report automatically updates with the metric column you selected now
hidden. In the example image below, the metric Revenue has been hidden,
although the Percent Growth remains the same.

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Displaying a previously hidden metric column

Follow the procedure above for hiding a metric column. Instead of choosing
the Fixed option, select Auto Fit to Contents and click OK. The report
automatically updates with the column now showing.

Resizing a column or row: Column handles and Fixed Column

Width mode
Most reports are designed to have column widths and row heights sized
automatically by the system. However, you can redesign the report to size
columns and rows manually. This lets you drag a column edge left or right, or
a row edge up or down, to resize the space. This gives you fine control over
the look of your report.

Use the appropriate procedure below, depending on the degree of control

you want when resizing rows and columns:

• Use the column handles procedure if you want to simply drag column
handles around to resize a column.
• Use the pixel height and width procedure to enter a specific number of
pixels for column width, to assign a different width to specific columns,
and to enter a specific number of pixels to adjust row heights.

Steps are below to resize columns and rows in both MicroStrategy Developer
and MicroStrategy Web.

To display column handles in Developer

The procedure below is slightly different depending on whether your report

was designed to use Fixed Column Width mode or Auto Column Width
mode. The differences are described below.

1 Run a grid report.

2 On the Grid menu, select View Column Handles.

• The following message may appear: “Column width changes in
Automatic Column Width mode will not be saved. Do you want to
switch to Fixed Column Width mode?”

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This message indicates that the report you executed is in Automatic

Column Width mode. This means the system automatically sizes the
columns for you. If you click No, the report stays in Automatic mode
and any column sizing you do will not be saved. If you click Yes, the
report’s column width mode is changed to Fixed, and any column
sizing you do will be saved when you save the report.

3 Column handles appear along the top of the columns of the report. In the
following image, the report on the top has no column handles displayed.
The report on the bottom shows column handles displayed.

4 Hover your cursor over a column handle until the cursor changes to a
double arrow, as shown below:

5 Drag the handle left or right to make the column narrower or wider.

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To determine pixel height of rows and width of columns in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Grid menu, select Options. The Grid Options dialog box opens.

3 On the Columns and Rows tab, select Fixed.

4 From the drop-down list, select the report features you want to specify
width for:
• All Columns: Determines the width of all the columns on the report.

• All Row Axis: Determines the width for the column on the row axis
(usually the attributes). Use this setting if there are no metrics
(columns) on the report.

• All Grid: Determines the width of the data columns.

• Attribute form name: Determines the width for the specified

attribute form. Each attribute form in the report is listed.

• Metrics: Determines the width of the column named “Metrics”, which

holds the column headers.

• Metric name: Determines the width for the specified metric. Each
metric in the report is listed. All instances of this metric use this
width, including those that are in page-by fields. (For details on
page-by fields, see Grouping data by page, page 85.)

5 Enter the column width in Pixels.

6 Select one of the following row height settings:

• Auto Row Height: Allows row heights to be determined automatically
by the system.

• Fixed Row Height: Allows you to specify the height of the rows. Enter
the number of Pixels for the row height.

 Column widths must be fixed for row heights to be fixed. Column

widths are applied first and then row heights.

7 Click OK. You are returned to the report.

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To resize the columns and rows on a report in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a report.

2 Do one of the following:

• Click and drag a column header's vertical lines to adjust the size of a
column. The size of the column is adjusted accordingly.

• From the Format menu, select Resize Columns and Rows. The
Resize Columns and Rows dialog box is displayed.
– If DHTML is disabled, click Go. The Resize Columns and Rows
panel is displayed.

3 Resize the columns and rows using the following options:

• To automatically set the size of the columns and rows:

– Auto Fit to Window: The grid report's columns stretch to fit the
size of the browser window.

– Auto Fit to Contents: The width of the report's columns or rows is

determined by the data in the column or row. All extra space in the
grid is removed.

• To manually size the height of the rows or width of the columns, select
Fixed in the Columns area or Fixed Height in the Rows area. Type a
size for the columns or rows. The grid report is adjusted to the column
width and row height you specify.

 Changing the height of the rows manually does not affect the
header rows at the top of the report.

4 Click OK to apply the changes.

Formatting groups of report rows or columns: Banding

You can color groups of report rows or columns so that they form bands of
data that are easy to locate and analyze. Banding can also make it easier to
make sense of a very large report, because the large amounts of data are
broken up into visual groups. If you need to keep track of values that mean
different things in different columns (for example, dollars in one column and

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inventory quantities in another column), banding can help an analyst avoid

making the mistake of reading the wrong number.

Banding is a method of organizing or grouping data values in a grid report

according to certain criteria. You can band rows or columns in several ways.
You can band based on the number of rows or columns (for example,
alternating color every 5 rows). You can also band based on the row and
column headers (for example, sorting the Units Sold column in order, then
applying alternating colors to sets of values). As shown in the image below,
banding based on column headers helps keep financial numbers from getting
confused with unit counts.

For example, for the report shown below, you want to band the columns
according to Revenue and Units Sold, such that all Revenue columns appear
with one color and all Units Sold columns appear with another color.

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To do this, you choose to band by columns, and you select the banding
colors. After applying the banding, the report appears as shown below.

The autostyle of a report provides the report’s default banding options, but
you can define custom banding or even turn off banding for a report,
regardless of its autostyle. (For information on autostyles, see Preset
formatting: Autostyles, page 69.)

You can perform more complex banding of report data, based on custom
grouping of attribute elements (for example, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
Southeast on the report above) and other banding conditions. For details, see
the chapters on Custom Groups and Consolidations as well as Reports in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

 You cannot create banding formatting in MicroStrategy Web.

However, you can enable or disable the display of banding on a report
in Web. The procedure is below.

To create custom banding in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Grid menu, select Options. The Grid Options dialog box opens.

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3 On the General tab, select Custom banding.

4 Click Settings. The Banding Settings dialog box opens.

5 Set the banding options as desired. For details on each option in the
dialog box, click Help. In the example above, to band by columns, you
select the banding criteria By column header and select the banding
color.

6 Click OK. Then click OK again to close the Grid Options dialog box.

To turn off banding in Developer

1 Open the banded report.

2 From the Grid menu, select Options. The Grid Options dialog box opens.

3 Select No Banding and click OK.

To enable or disable banding in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 On the General tab, select or clear the Show Banding check box.

Keeping row and column names visible: Locking headers

You can scroll side to side or up and down in a large report without losing
sight of the row or column names, by following one or both of the following
procedures.

To lock row or column headers

1 In a report, from the Tools menu, select Report Options.

2 On the General tab, select the Lock check box for Rows or Columns.

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3 Click OK.

Formatting report borders

You can apply special formatting to the outside borders of a grid report, if
you wish. The custom formatting you apply is visible when the report is
printed. You can apply dotted or dashed lines, heavier or lighter line weights,
and even apply colors to report borders. You can also make report borders
disappear.

For example, if you have a report that presents a lot of data along with
several subtotals and totals, the report may appear looking almost like a
spreadsheet. It may be more aesthetically pleasing to see the data printed
with the outside lines of the report gone, to create a more “open” feel and
make the data look less overwhelming. By removing the outside border of a
report, you can also make important, bolded, or totaled data stand out more
clearly.

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The following image shows the Regional Sales Management report in the
Tutorial project with its default report borders, which are pale gray, the same
color as the cell borders:

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The next image shows the same report with the report’s borders removed.
The data looks less crowded, and the important data at the bottom of the
report is emphasized:

To format report borders in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

2 In the top left-hand corner of the grid report, right-click in the empty area
and select Formatting, then select Grid Borders. The Format Cells
dialog box opens.

3 Select one of the Preset icons. The None icon on the left removes all
borders from the report. The Outline icon on the right automatically adds
a border around the outside of the report.

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 2 Formatting a Report Basic Reporting Guide

4 If you chose to add a border, select the type of line Style you want, such
as solid or dashed, and then select a Color.

5 Click on a line in the Border area and you can see your selections appear
on the sample page in the Border area.

 The Hair line style cannot be displayed in reports viewed in

MicroStrategy Web. It is replaced with the Thin line style. If you
want appearance to be consistent between Developer and Web
report display, consider a line style other than Hair.

6 Click OK to save your changes.

7 Some border effects can be seen well in Developer, while others are more
clearly seen in Print Preview mode. To view your border settings, from
the report’s File menu select Print Preview.

Formatting a combined grid and graph report

Grid Graph view displays a report as both a cross-tabbed grid report and a
graph report in the same screen. You can determine the size and position of
the grid (and, in consequence, the size and position of the graph) in Grid
Graph view.

 This formatting option is not available in MicroStrategy Web.

To view a report in Grid Graph view, see Grids and graphs combined,
page 10.

To format Grid Graph view

1 Open a report.

2 From the View menu, select Grid Graph View.

3 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

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4 Expand the Display category and select the Grid Graph Mode
subcategory.

5 Adjust any of the following settings for the grid report:

• Grid Position determines where the grid is placed in relation to the

graph. For example, if you set the position to Top, the grid is displayed
on top of the graph. If you set the position to Left, the grid displays to
the left of the graph, as shown in the image below.

• Grid Percentage specifies how much space the grid occupies in the
display area. For example, if this option is set to 75, the grid occupies

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75% of the report display area while the graph is resized to fit in the
remaining 25%, as shown below.

If Grid Position is set to Top or Bottom, Grid Percentage represents

the height percentage. If Grid Position is set to Left or Right, Grid
Percentage is the width percentage.

• Minimum Grid Percentage is the minimum space that the grid can
occupy.

 Grid Percentage and Minimum Grid Percentage interact to

determine the size of the grid. For example, if Grid Percentage is
set to 25, you cannot set the Minimum Grid Percentage higher
than 25.

6 Click OK.

Formatting a graph report

You can format a graph report in many ways, including the following:

• The style of the graph (for example, a pie graph, a bar graph, or a scatter
graph)

• The size and location of the graph, graph legend, titles, and axis labels

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• The color of different sections of the graph (for example, the color of the
pie slices on a pie graph)

• Whether a threshold (conditional formatting) appears on the graph

The following sections provide information and examples of different ways

you can format your graph report.

For a discussion of the graph styles available in MicroStrategy and when to

use each style, see the Graphing chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide.

For steps to apply specific graphing options, click Help.

Viewing a graph report

To view a graph report, you can open any report that was saved as a graph
report. You can also convert almost any grid report to a graph report, using
the procedure below.

To view a graph report in MicroStrategy Developer or MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the View menu, select Graph View (in Developer) or from the
Home menu, select Graph (in MicroStrategy Web).

3 If this is the first time you are viewing this report in Graph view, you are
prompted to select a graph style. Select a bar graph style, since it suits
most sets of data. For information on selecting other graph styles, see
Choosing a graph style, page 58.

You can also select Grid Graph view to see both the report grid and its
corresponding graph side-by-side.

 Reports saved in Graph view automatically appear in Graph view

when executed.

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Understanding a graph report

A graph report represents a grid report’s numerical data values with the
graphical elements within the graph (for example, points, bubbles, lines,
bars, or circles). The non-numerical data within a grid report, such as
attribute names and metric names (the row and column headers), are
represented as the axes on the graph. The axes on a graph are used as
reference for the report data (the points, bubbles, lines, bars, and so on).
When a grid report is converted to graph format, you can think of the values
within the grid cells as giving shape to the graph, while the column and row
headings become the graph’s axes.

By seeing where a graph element, such as a bar or bubble, appears in relation

to the axes on the graph report, you can determine values for that graph
element. Additionally, by viewing all the graph elements together, you can
often more easily see overall trends in your data than is otherwise possible in
a grid report.

Choosing a graph style

You can display your report graph in a variety of graph styles. The style you
choose must be compatible with the data you want to display. For example,
consider the data requirements for the following graph styles:

• An area graph or a bar graph require only a minimum of one metric and
one attribute to be included in the report, to display data properly within
that style.
• A scatter graph requires at least 2 metrics in the report to display the
graph style properly.

• A bubble graph requires at least 3 metrics to be a useful graph style to

choose.

For complete details on the requirements and recommendations for each

graph style available in MicroStrategy, see the Graphing chapter in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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Graph style examples

You may want to display your grid report data in a pie graph format, as
shown in the image below.

You might then want to see the same data in a Polar graph style, as shown
below.

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When selecting a graph style to view your data, you must consider two
important issues:

• The structure and amount of data on your report affect your decision
because some graph styles cannot be displayed unless a certain number
of attributes or metrics appear on the report grid. These requirements are
listed in the Graphing chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

• The position of report objects on your report grid also determines

whether a graph can be generated in a certain graph style. For example, to
display slices in a pie chart, you can change the placement of report
objects by pivoting data; for details, see Pivoting data, page 90. For
general information about how the placement of report objects
determines which graph styles you can use, see the Graphing chapter of
the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Changing a graph’s style

Perform the following steps to modify the graph style. Use the appropriate
procedure below, depending on whether you are working in MicroStrategy
Developer or Web.

To change a graph style in Developer

1 Open a report in either Graph or Grid Graph view.

2 From the Gallery menu, select a graph style to use with the graph. The
graph is updated with the new style.

 Ifdataa graph style is grayed out and unavailable, there is insufficient

on your proposed graph to generate the graph in that style.
Choose another graph style for the graph. For information about
the minimum requirements for each graph style, see the Graphing
chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

To change a graph style in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a report in either Graph or Grid and Graph view.

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2 From the Graph toolbar, select a new graph style to use. The graph is
updated with the new style.

 Ifinsufficient
an error message is displayed that notifies you that there is
data on your proposed graph to generate the graph in
the selected style, click Cancel. Choose another graph style for the
graph. For information about the minimum requirements for each
graph style, see the Graphing chapter of the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

Changing the color scheme of a graph

You can modify the colors of certain elements on your graph, for example,
the pie pieces on your pie graph or the individual bars in your bar graph.

In graphing terms, the pieces of a graph element (for example, the pie slices
of a pie graph or the individual bars in a bar graph) are referred to as the
graph’s series. The series are described in a graph report’s legend. The
groups of data along the X-axis are called categories. In general:

• Categories:

Are groups of data usually found on the X-axis of a graph report

Usually correspond to the rows of a grid report

Usually represent attributes

• Series:

Are groups of data usually found on the Y-axis of a graph report

Usually correspond to the columns of a grid report

Are explained in the legend of a graph report

Usually represent metrics

You can change the colors of the series in a graph by selecting a color scheme
from the Color Palette in the Graph toolbar, as described in the following
procedure.

 Bystepsdefault, the graph color of a metric overrides the color scheme. For
to define the graph color, see Defining a graph color for
metrics, page 62. For steps to allow the color scheme to override the
graph color, see To disable metric-specific graph colors in a graph
report, page 63.

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To modify the colors of series on your graph in Developer

1 Open a report in either Graph or Grid Graph view.

2 Ensure that the Graph toolbar is enabled by selecting Toolbar from the
View menu, and then selecting Graph.

3 Select a color scheme from the color palette by clicking arrow on the
Color Palette icon on the Graph toolbar. The colors of the graph’s
series are changed accordingly.

To find information on how to modify colors on a graph report in

MicroStrategy Web, click Help at the top of any MicroStrategy Web page.

 Tobe granted
format the series colors of a graph in MicroStrategy Web, you must
the necessary Web Professional privilege. For more
information, contact your administrator.

Defining a graph color for metrics

You can define the color used for a metric when it is displayed as a series in a
graph. By default, the graph color that you define for a metric overrides any
color schemes for the graph report. You can instead allow the graph color
scheme to override the metric’s graph color, as described in To disable
metric-specific graph colors in a graph report, page 63.

 You can define a default graph color for a particular metric, and this
color is used in all graph reports. You must have the necessary
Developer privileges to define this; see the Graphs chapter in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide for details.

To define the graph color for a metric in a graph report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, log in to a project and navigate to a graph report.

Click the report to run it.

2 Locate the metric whose color you want to change in the graph.
Right-click the metric and point to Fill. A color palette is displayed.

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3 Select your desired color in one of the following ways:

• Select one of the default colors in the color palette.

• To define a new color outside of the color palette, select More Colors.
The More Colors dialog box will now be displayed. You can select a
new color from the slider on the right or create one based on its Hex,
RGB, and HSV values. Click Apply to see the changes made to your
graph or click OK to apply your changes and close the dialog box.

• To apply a gradient to the metric on the graph, select Gradient. A

gradient displays a blend of two colors in a gradual color change for
the metric when the metric is displayed as a series in a graph report.
You can select the two colors for the gradient from the Color 1 and
Color 2 drop-down lists, and then click one of the squares to set the
direction of the shading between the two colors. The colors can blend
left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, horizontally
centered, or vertically centered. Click OK to save your changes and
close the dialog box.

You can repeat these steps for any metrics on the report that require a
specific graph color. Each metric should use a color that can be easily
distinguished from the colors used for other metrics. This ensures that graph
report results are easy to decipher based on color.

To disable metric-specific graph colors in a graph report

Inheriting metric graph color is enabled by default. The steps below show
you how to disable this formatting, to allow the graph color scheme to apply
to all the series in a graph.

1 In MicroStrategy Developer, log in to a project and navigate to a graph

report.

2 Right-click the graph report and select Run. The Report Editor opens,
displaying the report as a graph.

3 From the Graph menu, select Preferences. The Preferences dialog box
opens.

4 In the Other area, clear the Apply metric formatting when available
check box.

5 Click OK to save your changes and return to the graph report.

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Formatting conditional data on a graph: Thresholds

Individual cell data can be automatically formatted differently than the data
in the rest of the report. Data that is formatted differently calls attention to
itself, and makes that data easier to locate for analysis. This conditional
formatting is called a threshold, because when a given value in your data
reaches a certain point, or threshold, the conditional formatting is applied.

Thresholds are described in detail in Formatting conditional values on a

grid: Thresholds, page 25.

 Because of how graph types display report data, a threshold on a

graph report displays background formatting only. This includes a
solid color, a gradient color, a pattern, and any other available
background effects. Other threshold formatting, such as symbols and
text formatting, are not applied to the graph report, but are still
displayed on the grid report.

Not all graph types can display thresholds. For example, Area graphs
combine all data into a single area object. Since the data is all visually
connected into the same area object, thresholds cannot be displayed for
specific data points. However, many graph types display a separate series or
data marker for each data point, and thus can display thresholds.

The following graph types can display thresholds directly on the series of the
graph:

• Bar

• Boxplot
• Bubble chart

• Funnel

• Histogram

• Pareto chart

• Pie chart

• Stock

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For example, the Bar graph report shown below uses thresholds on the series
to highlight when employee satisfaction is above seven or below three for a
given survey field.

The following graph types can display thresholds on the data markers that
highlight specific data points on the series of the graph:

• Gauge

• Line
• Polar chart

• Radar line chart

• Scatter plot and three-dimensional scatter plot

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For example, the graph report shown below is the same report used in the
previous example. However, the report shown below uses a Line graph style,
and the threshold is applied to the data markers.

To create and apply a threshold to a graph report

1 In Developer, open a graph report.

2 From the Data menu, select Thresholds. The Thresholds dialog box
opens.

3 Click on New Threshold, and name your new threshold.

 Any thresholds that are already defined for this metric are
displayed below the toolbar. If you want, you can select any
existing threshold to modify, and then skip defining the condition,
as described in the next step. An existing threshold must include
some type of background formatting such as a solid color, a
gradient, or a pattern. The background formatting is the only
conditional formatting that is displayed on a graph report.

4 Define the condition that the value must meet to have the threshold
formatting applied. Click the text Click here to start a new

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qualification. The parts of the condition appear, each of which must be

defined:

a Click Field first, to select the business attribute or metric calculation

that is part of your condition.

b Click Operator to select an operator, such as In List, Not in List, or

Where.

c Click Value to specify the elements from the available list.

 Ifhaveyoutoselected an existing threshold in the step above, you do not

redefine the condition.

5 Next you define the formatting that you want displayed for values that
meet the condition you have defined above.

a Click the Edit the threshold formatting icon. The Format Cells dialog
box opens.

b Click the Background tab.

c Select a Background Style from the drop-down list, and then choose
the colors to use. For details to format the background, click Help.

 ToBackground
apply a background to a graph report, you must select a
Style other than Default.

d Click OK.

6 Select the threshold that you formatted, and click the Enable threshold
on Graph icon on the toolbar. This applies the background color to
the graph when the threshold condition is satisfied.

 This icon is available only when you have formatted the

background of the selected threshold.

7 Click OK to save your new threshold definition and close the Thresholds
dialog box. Your new threshold is automatically applied.

8 Review the graph report. The thresholds should be displayed for

applicable data on the graph report. If you are using one of the graph
types that support thresholds, and you do not see thresholds on the graph
report, use the steps provided below to display the thresholds:
a From the Graph menu, select Preferences. The Preferences dialog
box opens with the Options - General page displayed.

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b In the Other area, clear the Apply rounded effects to all series
check box. This removes the automatic beveling effects used for the
series and data markers of the graph report, but it also allows the
display of thresholds for certain graph types. You can still apply and
create your own custom bevel effects for the graph report, as
described in the Graphing chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide.

c Click OK to save your changes and return to the graph report. The
thresholds should now be displayed on the graph report.

Undoing and redoing graph formatting

Creating an attractive and easily understandable graph usually means you
have to try different combinations of fonts, colors, gradients, and other
options.

For example, you format the series colors (pie pieces) of your pie graph by
selecting the Apex color style from the Color Palette in the Graph toolbar. (To
change the colors of series in a graph, see Changing the color scheme of a
graph, page 61.) Taking another look at your graph, you decide you do not
like the change and want to revert to the pie graph’s original colors. The
Undo icon on the report’s Edit menu allows you to easily reverse formatting
choices such as these.

If you decide later that you did not want to undo an action (for example, you
want to change back to the Apex color style), you can use the Redo icon on
the report’s Edit menu to quickly reapply that formatting choice.

The Undo and Redo icons work similarly to the corresponding commands in
Windows.

Moving and resizing graph objects

In MicroStrategy Developer, you can manually resize or reposition graph
elements, including the graph legend, title, subtitles, and the graph itself.

• Resizing: When you select any of the objects described above, handles
are displayed around the object. You can use these handles to manually
resize the object.

• Moving: You can relocate the selected object by clicking in the middle of
it and dragging it to another location on the graph.

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For examples of how to manually resize and reposition objects on a graph,

refer to the Graphing chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

For steps to manually resize objects in your graph, see the Developer online
help (formerly the Desktop Help). (See the “Resizing a graph report” topic.)

 You
Web.
cannot manually resize or reposition a graph from MicroStrategy

Formatting numeric data in a report

Metrics on a report can have formatting applied to the metric values
independently of any overall report formatting. The metric data displayed on
a report is shown with the formatting from the actual metric that is placed on
the report when the report is designed. Metric data formatting also depends
on several other factors.

To see the possible scenarios for metric formatting with grid and graph
image examples, see the Graphing chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide. You can also see the online help (the “Formatting metrics
on a report” topic) for complete details on other factors that can affect
number formatting in a report.

Preset formatting: Autostyles

MicroStrategy comes with several presentation styles for displaying reports.
These are called autostyles. Each autostyle automatically applies a set of
formatting that includes color scheme, font style, and font type to a report.

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For example, in MicroStrategy Developer and Web, the default autostyle

used for all reports is called Corporate, which includes a gray background
and dark blue font color, as shown in the image below:

Autostyles let you standardize formatting across many reports.

Explore the available autostyles by opening a grid report in the Tutorial

project and selecting any of the available autostyles. For information to
locate reports in the Tutorial project, see About sample data and the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project, page 4.

Applying an autostyle

To apply an autostyle in MicroStrategy Web

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click to open a grid report.

2 Click the Grid menu. If DHTML is disabled, click Go.

3 Select an Autostyle from the drop-down list. If DHTML is disabled, click

Apply Style.

Creating a new autostyle

You can save your favorite formatting settings as an autostyle, so you can
easily repeat your favorite styles on later reports.

 Although you cannot create new autostyles in MicroStrategy Web,

autostyles created in Developer are available to be applied to reports
in Web.

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To create and save an Autostyle in Developer

1 In Developer, double-click to open a grid report.

2 Format the report as desired, using any of the procedures in this chapter
or the online help. For example, apply a banding color scheme to the
columns or rows of the report, and change the report’s borders.

3 From the report’s Grid menu, select Save Autostyle As. The Save
Autostyle As dialog box opens.

4 Specify a name for the new autostyle in the Save Autostyle As dialog box.
The name should be descriptive so you or other users can be aware of
what formatting changes it will make when applied to a report.

5 You can save objects in MicroStrategy so that only you can see and use
them, or so that all other users can see and use them. This is determined
by the location where you save the object:

• To save an autostyle so that other users can also use the autostyle to
apply formatting to their reports, save the autostyle in the Public
Objects\Autostyles folder.

• To save an autostyle so that only you can use it, save the autostyle in
the My Personal Objects\My Objects folder. If you save an
autostyle in this folder, it appears only in your autostyle drop-down
list and is not available to other users.

The next time you open a report, you can view the autostyle you created in
the list of available autostyles.

For information on creating autostyles for a broad number of reports,

changing properties in the default autostyles, and so on, see the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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 3
3. ANALYZING DATA
Grouping and Pivoting, Outlines,
Calculations, and Finding Values

Introduction

When reports return large amounts of data, it can be difficult to easily

understand what the data is telling you. Several MicroStrategy tools can help
you analyze large amounts of data more quickly.

The following analysis tools are available in MicroStrategy Developer and

MicroStrategy Web:
• Sorting: See Sorting data, page 74.
• Finding values in a report: See Finding values, page 77.

• Outline mode: See Summary/detail of data, page 80.

• Page-by: See Grouping data by page, page 85.

• Pivoting: See Pivoting data, page 90.

• Report limits: See Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report

limits, page 93.

• Metric join type: See Determining how metric data is combined: Metric
join types, page 98.

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• Evaluation order: See Evaluation order of calculations, page 104.

• Subtotals: See Subtotals, page 105.

Each analysis tool is discussed in detail in this chapter.

Sorting data
You can reorganize how data is displayed on your report by sorting the data.
Sorting lets you move data so you can analyze that data more effectively.
Consider the following sorting techniques:

• Move the most important data up to the top of the report where you can
see it easily.

• Group particular chunks of data together so you can more easily compare
the data.

For example, you are looking at a report that shows income ranges for your
customers. The report lists all income brackets for customers in every region
in the United States. The image below shows just the top half of this lengthy
report. (The rest of the report that is not included here shows the rest of the
regions in the United States.)

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This image shows the default sort order for this report. The default sort order
focuses on geographical regions, as shown in the far left column in the
report.

But you want to analyze only the income bracket revenue over $80,000, and
with the report as it appears now, you must scroll up and down the data to
gather the numbers you need, risking missing a number or accidentally
looking at the wrong number.

If you sort the Income Bracket column in descending order, you can instantly
see the higher income brackets you are interested in, grouped together for
clarity and easier comparison, as shown in the image below. With the new

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sort order, the focus of the report is now on income bracket rather than
geographical region.

You sort data based on a row header or column header. Row headers are
typically business attributes; for example, in the report above, Region and
Income Bracket are attributes and are in the rows of the report. Column
headers are typically business calculations called metrics; for example, in the
report above, Revenue is a metric that is in the columns of the report.
Attributes and metrics are the most common objects on a report.

You can sort on any column or row that is on a grid report. When you sort,
you determine the sorting order, either ascending or descending:

• Ascending sort order arranges the data alphabetically, from A to Z, or

lowest to highest, such as from 1 to 10.

• Descending sort order arranges the data in reverse alphabetic order,

from Z to A, or highest to lowest, such as from 10 to 1.

Sorting is processed by the MicroStrategy Analytical Engine, which means

you can sort and organize the data on a report without taking up the time and
resources to re-execute the report against your data source.

 This guide discusses only quick sorting. For information on more

complex, layered sorting patterns, see Advanced Sorting in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide. For information on

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sorting custom groups, see the Custom Groups and Consolidations

chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Quick sort
You can quickly sort the data in a column or row, in either ascending or
descending order. A quick sort allows you to experiment with different sort
orders for your data, so you can determine which sort order displays the data
in the most useful way.

There are various ways to trigger a quick sort, including using the right-click
menu or using the sort icons:

• MicroStrategy Developer: You can right-click on the column or row, or

use the sort icons on the Data toolbar. (To see the sort icons, from the
View menu, select Toolbar, then select Data.)

• MicroStrategy Web: You can right-click on the column or row, or use the
sort icon in each row and column header. (To see the sort icons, from the
Tools menu, select Sort Buttons.)

The procedure below describes the right-click sort method.

To perform a quick sort

1 Open a grid report.

2 Right-click in the heading of the column or row to be sorted.

 Inname,
Developer, make sure you right-click directly on the column
not in the blank area of the column header.

3 Point to Sort, and select either Ascending or Descending.

Finding values
Whenever you want to quickly locate a specific data value in a grid report, or
you want to jump to a section of a large report, use the Find feature. You can
also use the Find feature to locate a string in the SQL syntax, when viewing a

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report in SQL View. (For steps to look at a report in Grid View or SQL View,
see Report types, page 8.)

You can also narrow your searches if you need to, by defining specific
requirements for your search.

 Inor other
MicroStrategy Web, use the browser’s Find feature to locate values
data in a report. For example, in Internet Explorer, from the
Edit menu, select Find on this page.

To find a value in a report in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the View menu, display the report in the appropriate view,
depending on what you want to find:
• Grid View or Grid Graph View, to find a value in the report

• SQL View to find a string in the SQL syntax

 The Find feature is not available in Graph view.

3 From the Edit menu, select Find. The Find dialog box opens.

4 Enter the value to search for and click Find Next. The first instance of the
value is highlighted if the value is found.

5 Click Find Next again to search for additional instances of the value in
the report.

Each cell in a grid report is treated as a string value. This means that, for
example, if a grid report contains data that includes the numbers 50 and
500, both cells are found when you search for 50. To change this behavior,
see Finding an entire cell, page 79.

Narrowing a search for report data

When searching for data in a report in Grid view, use any of the following
options to narrow the results you get from a search using the Find feature.
These options work similarly to Find options in Microsoft Excel.

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Searching by row or column

Search By Rows or By Columns allows you to set the direction of the search
so that the data you are looking for may be located more quickly.

Making a search case-sensitive

Match case finds only text that has the same pattern of upper and lower case
as the text you specify in the Find what text box. Use this option to make the
search case-sensitive.

Finding an entire cell

Find entire cell finds only cells that match all of the text you enter in the
Find what text box. For example, if you enter “3470”, a cell containing
“3,470” will not be found. If you enter “50”, a cell containing “500” will not
be found.

Narrowing a search for SQL syntax

You can use SQL view to search for specific syntax in the SQL for a report.
Use any of the following options to narrow the results you get from a search
using the Find feature. These options work similarly to Find options in
Microsoft Notepad.

To view a report in SQL view, open a report and select SQL View from the
View menu.

Matching the whole word

Match whole word only finds only strings that match all of the text you
enter in the Find what text box. For example, if you enter “temporary”, a
string containing “temp” will not be found.

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Making a search case-sensitive

Match case finds only text that has the same pattern of upper and lower case
as the text you specify in the Find what text box. Use this option to make the
search case-sensitive.

Summary/detail of data
When you have a large set of data on a report, it is generally easier to analyze
and understand the data if you can look at only certain sets of the data at one
time. Use one of the following tools to organize large sets of data so it is
easier to handle:

• Outline mode: This tool lets you expand and collapse sets of data. See
Outlining data, page 80.

• Page-by: This tool lets you view one “page” of data at a time. See
Grouping data by page, page 85.

Outlining data
You can create an indented grouping of related data on a grid report by
organizing the data into a standard outline style. Using an outline style, you
can collapse and expand sections of related data, as shown in the images
below.

The image below shows just a small portion of an outlined report expanded
completely. The outline style is controlled with the numbered buttons that
appear in the top left corner of the report. For this image, button 3 was
clicked, which expands the outline down to its third level. In this case, the
third level is Supplier. Note that most of the report data cannot be viewed

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without scrolling, but each item of data and its related metric numbers can
be seen clearly:

The next image shows the same report as in the image above, but with the
lowest level of data collapsed and only the higher levels of data expanded
(button 2 in the top left corner was clicked). Note that you can almost see the
entire report in a single screen. The detailed data is hidden, but higher level

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numbers can be analyzed and compared more easily. It is also easier to

compare totals and averages for each category.

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The next image shows the same report as in the images above, but with all
data levels collapsed fully (button 1 in the top left corner was clicked). Note
that this outline level provides the highest summary of data:

Outlining is particularly useful when information displayed would otherwise

involve repetitive entries. For example, you want to display sales for three
years, 2004, 2005, and 2006. You also want data listed by month within
each of the years. Rather than having all data visible for every month of every
year, you can use an outline to expand and view just that data you want to see
immediately, and keep other data collapsed, to be expanded later for quick
comparisons.

Multiple-page reports work in the same way. For example, if you are on page
4 of a multiple-page report and you want to collapse the data to the second
level, then you will only be collapsing data that is displayed on the fourth
page of the report.

Enabling an outline

Use the appropriate procedure below, depending on whether you are

working in MicroStrategy Developer or MicroStrategy Web.

 Outline mode is only available when the report has more than one
object in the rows. For example, if your grid report has business
attributes on the rows of the report, there must be more than one
attribute if you want to use outline mode.

To enable an outline in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

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2 From the Grid menu, select Display Outline Results. You can expand
and collapse the outline levels by clicking the numbered buttons at the
top of the report. There is one button for each outline level in the report.

 Each outline level usually represents a business attribute on the

report. For a detailed explanation of rows and columns and what
business data they represent, see Rows and columns, page 7.

To enable an outline in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 Select the Outline check box, and click OK.

4 You can expand and collapse individual levels by clicking the + or - box
within each row on the report. Click the numbers above the report to
expand or collapse everything to a certain outline level.

 Each outline level usually represents a business attribute on the

report. For a detailed explanation of rows and columns and what
business data they represent, see Rows and columns, page 7.

Initial display of an outline

Depending on whether you are using MicroStrategy Developer or

MicroStrategy Web, you may be able to change how outlined reports appear
when they are opened.

• MicroStrategy Web: By default, reports with an outline applied are

displayed with all outline levels collapsed. This default cannot be
changed.

• MicroStrategy Developer: By default, reports with an outline applied are

initially displayed with all levels expanded. However, you can specify how
you want the report to display when it is opened. You can have an
outlined report open with a specific level already expanded, or with all
outline levels collapsed.

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To determine how an outline displays initially

1 In Developer, open a grid report.

2 If the report does not already have Outline mode enabled, from the Grid
menu choose Display Outline Results. The report is displayed in Outline
mode.

3 From the Grid menu, select Options. The Grid Options dialog box opens.

4 Click the General tab, and select one of the following:

• Open with all outline levels expanded: The report will open with all
outline levels expanded. This is the default setting.

• Open with all outline levels collapsed: The report will open with all
outline levels collapsed.

• Open outline expanded up to this level: The report will open

expanded up to the level you select from the drop-down list. The list
becomes available once you choose this option.

5 Click OK to close the Grid Options dialog box.

6 From the File menu, select Save to save your outline mode settings for
the report definition.

Grouping data by page

When you have a very large set of data on a report, it can be easier to handle
that data by grouping the report data into logical subsets, and viewing only
one of the subsets at a time. To group data into subsets, you can use the
page-by feature.

The subsets you separate your business data into are called pages, and you
then page your way through the report, viewing one data subset at a time.
Page-by makes viewing a report easier than scrolling through long lists of
data.

For example, if a report showing your profit data is organized by Year,

Quarter, and Region, you can create a page-by for Year, so that the report

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shows only one year’s data at a time. The following image shows such a
report with Year in the page-by pane of the report (the top of the report).

You simply click the page-by field to select a different subset of data to
display. The page-by feature lets you decide what subsets of your business
data you want to display as separate pages of your report.

In MicroStrategy Web, the page-by feature appears as shown in the image

below. The specific subset of data from the report that is being displayed is
the data related to electronics, as shown in the page-by panel at the top of the
report:

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In the next image, the report is paged by books instead of by electronics,

resulting in data showing cost, price, and profits related to book sales:

Attributes and metrics are the most common objects available in the page-by
pane of a report, although you can enable page-by for most objects that
appear on a report.

You can page-by any of the following objects:

• Attributes

• Metrics

• Hierarchies

• Consolidations and custom groups. (Consolidations and custom groups

are described in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.)

• Most object prompts. (Specifically, object prompts that are made up of

attributes, hierarchies, consolidations, and custom groups. Object
prompts containing metrics can be placed in the page-by pane as long as
the report’s rows or columns do not contain a metric. Prompts are
discussed in detail in Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296 in
Chapter 7, Building Query Objects and Queries, for Designers.)

Page-by capabilities can be enabled or disabled for your project by your

company’s project designer. (A project designer is someone who sets up
objects within MicroStrategy to reflect your organization’s data.) If you
encounter a problem moving a certain type of object into the page-by pane
above a report, your project designer may have disabled the page-by
functionality for that type of object.

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To move an object to the page-by pane in Developer

 You can place more than one object in the page-by pane. If you decide
to place multiple related attributes in the page-by pane, be aware that
order matters. Whatever you page-by first (furthest to the left) affects
the elements displayed in the other page-by fields. Place multiple
objects into the page-by pane in logical order, from left to right.

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the View menu, select Page by. The Drop Page Fields Here pane
opens above the report.

3 On the report, right-click the object you want to move to the page-by
pane, point to Move, and select To Page-by. The object is moved to the
page-by pane above the report. In the example below, the Year attribute is
moved to the page-by pane.

 Towordmove metrics in columns to the page-by pane, right-click the

Metrics on the report and select Page-by. All metrics must
be moved together. You cannot have one metric in the page-by
pane and others on the report grid.

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4 The report is automatically re-displayed to show only the subset of data

shown in the current page-by field. Click the page-by field and select an
option from the drop-down list to change the subset of data displayed. In
the example below, you can select Year 2009 instead of 2008 to see the
Revenue and Percent Growth for each customer region for that year.

To remove an object from the page-by pane

1 In the page-by pane at the top of the report, right-click the page-by field
you want to remove.

2 Point to Move, and select either To Rows or To Columns. The object is

moved out of the page-by pane and onto the report.

To further arrange objects on the report, you can click the row or column
headers of objects on the report, and drag and drop them into place.

Retaining page-by display when saving a report

When you save a report that contains the page-by feature, you can choose to
either retain the currently displayed page-by selection with the saved report,
or to revert to the original page-by display. If you save the current display of
a page-by report, the next time you run the report it automatically displays
the last page-by choice you made before you saved the report. This feature
allows you to choose different criteria to view a report by whenever it is
executed.

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In instances where you want to view a specific page first, using this setting
allows you to decide the initial page to display.

The default page-by saving method reflects the page-by setting designated
for the entire project. This is usually set by your company’s project designer.
(A project designer is someone who sets up objects within MicroStrategy to
reflect your organization’s data.)

To retain page-by display

1 Open a report that contains a paged-by object.

2 Click the page-by field at the top of the report, and, from the page-by
drop-down list, select the page you want to be displayed the next time you
execute the report. The report refreshes, displaying the page of data you
selected.

3 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

4 Expand the General category, and select Advanced.

5 From the drop-down list called Retain page-by selections when you
save this report, select Yes.

6 Click OK to save your change and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

7 Save the report and then reopen it. The page-by field you last selected is
now the first page displayed.

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

For example, in the image below, the Inventory Received from Suppliers by
Quarter report shows a set of data spread across the screen in a large grid

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display. (The image below shows only a small section of the full report.) It is
not always easy to compare numbers in reports of this size.

If you pivot the objects on the report, so that the objects that were in the
columns are now in the rows, and the objects that were in the rows are now
in the columns, much of the data is easier to read and compare, as shown in
the image below.

For example, in this pivoted report it is simpler to analyze total units

received each quarter within a subcategory of books, because the totals are
listed in a single column, making them easy to compare. Any anomalies in
the numbers quickly become apparent. To perform the same comparison

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analysis with the first report above, you must visually skip over groups of
data and try to focus only on totals.

With data pivoting, you can do the following:

• Move an object (a business attribute or a metric calculation) and its

related data from a row to a column.

• Move an object (a business attribute or a metric calculation) and its

related data from a column to a row.

• Change the order of objects in the rows.

• Change the order of objects in the columns.

 All metrics are kept together on a report, so they must be moved as a

group when pivoting data. For example, on a grid report you cannot
move one metric to a row and another to a column. For graph reports,
metrics must all be together on only one axis. To pivot metric data,
select the word “Metric” in the header to move all metrics together.

Methods for pivoting data

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

• From the Move menu (in MicroStrategy Developer) or the Data menu (in
MicroStrategy Web), select Swap Rows and Columns.

• Drag and drop objects on the report to move them around. (In
MicroStrategy Web, you must have the DHTML user preference enabled
to move data this way.)
• In MicroStrategy Developer, click an object on the report to select it, and
choose a data pivoting option from the Move menu.

• Right-click an object on the report, select Move, and choose a data

pivoting option. (In MicroStrategy Web, you must have the DHTML user
preference enabled to move data this way.)

• Select an object on the report and use one of the data pivoting buttons on
the toolbar (in MicroStrategy Developer) or in the column header (in
MicroStrategy Web). To enable pivoting buttons in MicroStrategy Web,
from the Tools menu, select Pivot Buttons.

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Specifying maximum and minimum values:

Report limits
After a report’s results are displayed, you may need to further restrict the
data displayed without changing how the calculations were performed. You
can limit the data displayed in a report by specifying maximum and
minimum values for a given metric. These maximums and minimums
determine which rows of a result set are displayed in the report, and are
called report limits.

For example, the image below shows you a report that ranks all employee
sales.

You want to see only the results of the top ten employees. If you apply a
report limit to restrict the data displayed to the top ten employees, the data

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used to calculate the sales rank is not affected. Only the employees displayed
changes, as shown in the image below.

A report limit is assigned to metrics that appear on the report. Report limits
are defined using operators such as Between and Less Than. By default,
report limits are joined by the AND operator. To change the operator,
double-click the operator and select a new operator.

For more information on additional options and settings within the Report
Limit Editor, click Help.

For more information on advanced operators to apply to a report limit, see

Appendix B: Logical and Mathematical Operators for Filtering in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

 Iftoyou have MicroStrategy OLAP Services, you can apply report limits
any data on a report, not just metrics. For information on OLAP
Services, see OLAP Services, page 15.

To limit the data on a report using maximums and minimums

1 Open a grid report.

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In the example below, the report shows revenue earned by each

employee. You want to add a report limit to restrict data to show
employees who earned revenue greater than 1,000,000.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. Under the
Calculations category, the Report Limit subcategory displays any report
limits that may already be applied to the report.

3 To apply new limits to the report data, click Modify. The Report Limit
Editor opens.

4 Double-click in the Limit Definition area. The Report Limit Qualification

dialog box opens.

5 Click Browse and navigate to the metric you want to apply the limit to.
Then click OK.

 Derived metrics cannot be used in a report limit. A report limit is a

SQL engine function and therefore can only use a metric that
exists in the project. A derived metric, which is created within the
report, exists only in the report. To use the derived metric,
re-create it as a regular metric, using the Metric Editor. For
background information on derived metrics, see Derived metrics,
page 16. For steps to create a metric, see Calculating data on a
report: Metrics, page 217.

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6 From the Operator drop-down list, select the operator you want.
Examples include Between, Greater than, Less than, Exactly, and so on.

7 Enter the Value that you want the operator to apply to. In the example
below, the Operator is set to Greater than, and Value is set to 1,000,000
to see only data over 1 million.

8 Click OK. Then click Save and Close to save the report limit.

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9 Click OK to return to the report. In the image of the report below, you can
see that only those employee names that earned revenue greater than
1,000,000 are displayed.

Report limits and filters

If the report has a filter, the filter is applied to the report data first, then the
report limit is applied to further restrict the data returned in the report.

Calculating data
Your organization’s data source contains data related to all of your
organization’s operations. The goal of reporting is to access the latest data
related to your analysis needs, and then calculate that data to display the
numbers you need to see.

Within a single set of data that is gathered from your data source in response
to a report’s query, the results of calculations on that data can change
drastically depending on a number of considerations, such as:
• Metric join types: These determine how tables of metric data (usually
numerical data, such as sales, costs, or profits) are joined to each other.
The effect of joining your data in different ways on calculations of
numerical data is described below in Determining how metric data is
combined: Metric join types, page 98.

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• Attribute join types: These determine how tables of attribute data

(business concepts, such as year, store, or item) are joined together. See
the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide for details and business
examples of attribute joins in a report.

• Evaluation order: This determines in what order the various objects on a

report are calculated. Objects that can affect the calculation of data to be
displayed on a report include such things as metrics, report limits, and
subtotals. Which object is calculated first, next, and so on can completely
change the report’s results. A description of the default evaluation order
and examples for different evaluation orders are provided below in
Evaluation order of calculations, page 104.

• Subtotals: These allow you to total metric data using a selected

mathematical function. You can subtotal data in different ways for other
business users who will be viewing or analyzing the data. See Subtotals,
page 105.

As an introduction to understanding joins, be sure you understand the basic

report components of a metric, an attribute, and an attribute element. For
descriptions and examples, see MicroStrategy objects, page 209.

Determining how metric data is combined: Metric join types

When you execute a report, data is often retrieved that has come from more
than one table in your data source. The final results on any report are greatly
dependent on the organization and structure of your data source tables and
how data is stored within them.

When data is pulled from two or more tables of metric data in your data
source, a metric join determines the way that data is combined into a single
set of data. The order in which the data is joined from the different tables can
affect the outcome of the data calculation, just as the order of operations in
any arithmetic expression can affect the result.

Knowing how data is calculated for metrics on a given report is an important

part of the data analysis process. Several decisions go into determining rules
for how data is calculated when that data is pulled from different tables in
your data source. Calculation rules for metrics are defined at several
organizational levels:

1 How data is calculated by default is usually decided first by your

company’s project designer, who implements several settings on a
project-wide basis that affect how SQL handles your organization’s data

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during calculation. These decisions are often driven by the type of

database your organization owns; most databases process SQL
differently. These settings are generally made within the VLDB properties
for your project’s database instance within MicroStrategy. For details on
metric-specific VLDB properties, see the Advanced Metrics chapter in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

2 Next, the person in your company who designs a metric can override the
project-level default settings described above when she creates the
metric. When a metric designer applies settings to a specific metric, these
settings are effective for that metric no matter which reports the metric is
used in. For details on metric calculation settings at the metric level, as
well as joins for a compound metric (a metric that is made up of other
metrics), see the Advanced Metrics chapter of the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

3 Finally, report analysts can change how a metric is calculated for a single
report with which the analyst is concerned. You can view the existing
settings for a metric, as well as change various settings, within the Report
Data Options dialog box. (For steps to do this, see Viewing and changing
metric join types, page 103.) Any changes made to metric joins in the
report will override any join settings that were made by your company’s
metric designer or by your company’s project designer, described above.
However, changes made to the join type using the Report Data Options
dialog box affect this metric on this report only. When the metric is used
on another report, it uses its default metric join type. These report-level
metric join options are discussed in detail below.

Metric joins

 An understanding of your organization’s data source storage structure

is helpful to understand the details of metric joins.

A metric is often calculated based on data that comes from more than one
table in your data source. Data coming from multiple tables must be joined
together in some way during data calculation.

A metric join setting determines how data is combined by applying a specific

type of join, inner or outer. The MicroStrategy SQL Engine applies the
designated join type to the data pulled from your data source’s tables. The
join type places conditions on the data to be displayed in the report.

Inner and outer joins are discussed with examples below.

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• Inner join: An inner join includes in the calculation only the data
common to all the tables from which data is being gathered in your data
source.

• Outer join: An outer join includes in the calculation all of the data in all
of the tables from which data is being gathered in your data source.

Examples of inner and outer joins

Inner joins are generated by default for all metrics in a report. The resulting
report contains only those rows that have data returned for all the metrics.

For example, review the data in the following table. The Sales Information
and Budget Information columns show whether data exists in the data
source for that type of data in that region.

Region Sales Information? Budget Information?

North Yes No

South Yes Yes

East Yes Yes

West No Yes

A report is created containing Sales and Budget metrics, and the Region
attribute. The default inner join is not changed, because you want to view
metric values that are common to both metrics and that are therefore not
empty for either metric. Since the North region does not have any budget
data, as shown in the table above, no data is displayed for the North region
on the report. Similarly, the table above shows that sales data has not been
tracked for the West, so all data for the West region is also omitted from the
report. The resulting report, with an inner join between metrics, displays
only those regions that have both sales and budget information, or data that
is common to all components of the join. The result looks like the following
report:

However, assume you need to change your analysis and you want to display
all of the data from the tables in your data source, whether or not data exists
for all the metrics at all levels in the report. (For a definition and examples of

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levels, see How data is aggregated on a report: metric level, page 118.) You
apply an outer join to both metrics because you know there is some
incomplete or empty data for some regions in your data source. The outer
join results in the following report, in which the North and West regions
appear even though they have no data for one of the metrics.

Finally, you can specify different joins for each of the metrics on a report.
You want to see all sales data even if budget data has no values for some
regions in your data source, so you apply an outer join to the Sales metric and
an inner join to the Budget metric. All regions (all report rows) with
information on sales are displayed. The following report is created:

West is not displayed because it does not contain sales information. It is

irrelevant whether data exists for the Budget metric or not.

When to use an inner or outer metric join

Inner joins

An inner join is generally more commonly used for metric data than outer
joins. (The exception is with rank metrics; see Outer joins below for details.)
Inner joins are effective in many situations, including the following:

• Inner joins provide effective results when you know the metrics on your
report are closely related to each other, such as the Revenue metric and
the Profit metric.

• Inner joins are most effective if your data source contains relatively
complete metric data, without empty values.

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• Inner joins require less processing time than outer joins, so they are
useful to lessen the processing load on your MicroStrategy Intelligence
Server machine.

Outer joins

Outer joins are effective if your data source contains empty values for some
metric data in some tables. Outer joins are also necessary for metrics that
show rank. Outer joins allow you to see all data that is available for a metric.

For example, your revenue data may be completely up to date, but several
profit values have not been reported and entered in the data source for
certain days during the past week. When the Revenue and Profit metrics are
both included on the same report, you can apply an outer join to the Revenue
metric so that you can see all values for Revenue for each day of the past
week, even if the Profit value for a given day is currently empty.

When a metric calculates rank, it is important to use an outer join on the

rank metric. If the default inner join is used on a rank metric, some of the
ranks (and therefore, the ranked attribute elements) may not appear on the
report because an inner join does not include elements with null values in the
result set. But an element with a null value may have a rank. With an outer
join, all rows are displayed on the report even if there is no result displayed
for some of the elements for some of the metrics on the report. The goal for a
rank metric is to display all rankings, so all elements must appear whether
they have values or not.

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Viewing and changing metric join types

The image below shows the metric join type setting in the Report Data
Options dialog box.

To view and change metric join types

1 In Developer, open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. Under the
Calculations category, select Metric Join Type. The Metric Join Type
subcategory lists all metrics on the report, along with each metric’s join
type, as shown in the image above.

 orIf you have a long list of metrics, you can sort them by metric name
by join type, by clicking the Metric or Join Type column
headers.

3 You can change a metric’s join type by clicking the join type (Inner or
Outer) for the metric you want to change.

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4 From the drop-down list that appears, select a different join type. Inner
and outer joins are described fully above. You can select the following:

• Default: This option sets the metric to use the join type set for that
individual metric when that metric was created with the Metric
Editor. If no join type was determined this way for the metric, this
option sets the metric to use the join type set at the project level.

• Inner: This option displays only the data common to all data source
tables from which data is being gathered for this metric.

• Outer: This option displays all of the data from all data source tables
from which data is being gathered for this metric.

5 Click OK. The report is re-executed against your data source, and the
newly calculated results are displayed.

For details on all options available on the screen, click Help.

Evaluation order of calculations

Evaluation order is the order in which objects are calculated by
MicroStrategy’s Analytical Engine. Changing the order in which data is
calculated can change report results. You change the evaluation order of a
report’s data calculation by changing the order in which compound smart
metrics, consolidations, derived metrics, derived elements, report limits, and
subtotals on the report are calculated.

The default order of calculation is as follows:

1 Compound smart metrics (which are compound metrics with smart totals
enabled)

2 Consolidations, which are evaluated by their relative position on the

report template:

Rows, from left to right

Columns, from top to bottom

3 Report limits

4 Subtotals

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Compound metrics that are not the direct aggregations of other metrics can
be used in the evaluation order by setting the Allow Smart Metrics option of
the Metric Editor to Yes.

 Page-by and sorting are determined last, to arrange the positions of

the calculation results. Their evaluation order cannot be changed.

Many reports contain objects that require complex considerations to

determine an effective evaluation order. For a more detailed discussion of
evaluation order and how to change it, including examples, see the
Designing Reports chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

Subtotals
Subtotals are totals of selected groups of your metric data, totaled at a level
you select. (For a definition and examples of levels of aggregation, see How
data is aggregated on a report: metric level, page 118.) A subtotal lets you
see the totals for subgroups of your report data.

A metric’s designer must enable grand totals and/or subtotals for a metric. If
grand totals and/or subtotals have been enabled, an analyst can choose to
either display or hide them for that metric on a given report. Analysts can
also change the function used with a subtotal. The subtotal functions
available include sum, count, minimum, maximum, average, and median, as
well as others.

Analysts also have the ability to change the level at which a subtotal is
calculated. For background information on levels, see How data is
aggregated on a report: metric level, page 118 in Chapter 4, Answering
Questions about Data.

Report designers can also construct custom subtotals in MicroStrategy

Developer that, for example, allow you to apply subtotals to selected metrics
only. Custom subtotal functionality is explained in detail in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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Displaying subtotals

You can choose to display a subtotal across levels on a report, display grand
totals, or display all subtotals.

 You can select the value that is displayed in place of a null value in a
subtotal. For steps, see Formatting null values and blank cells,
page 35.

To display subtotals in Developer

This procedure assumes that the person who created the metric has enabled
grand totals or subtotals for the metric.

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Subtotals. The Subtotals dialog box opens.

3 Select the type of subtotal function you want to use on the report.

4 Click Advanced. The Advanced Subtotals Options dialog box opens.

5 In the Applied levels section, specify the level on the report at which to
calculate the selected subtotal.

 For a definition of a level and examples, see How data is

aggregated on a report: metric level, page 118 in Chapter 4,
Answering Questions about Data.
The levels you can select from are:

• By position: Apply the subtotal to particular parts of the report: rows,

columns, and/or page-by fields. Each of these is considered an axis of
the grid report. Then select one of the following:

– Grand Total: Apply only the subtotal across the whole axis.

– All Subtotals: Apply the subtotal across all levels on the axis.

– None: Apply the subtotal to no level of the axis.

• Across level: Apply the subtotal to all attributes and hierarchies

available on the report. When you select this, attributes and
hierarchies are listed for you to choose from. Select those you want to
subtotal.

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• Group by: Apply the subtotal by the selected attribute across all other
attributes on the report, regardless of position. This works best if the
report has been sorted based on the attribute you want to group the
subtotal by. When you select this, click Add to add new group-by
levels. The Grand Total check box adds a subtotal grouped by nothing,
which means the grand total is calculated based on all attributes on
the report.

6 Click OK to return to the Subtotals dialog box.

7 Click OK to complete the subtotal definition. The subtotals are displayed

on the report.

To display subtotals in MicroStrategy Web

This procedure assumes that the person who created the metric has enabled
grand totals or subtotals for the metric.

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Edit Totals. The Subtotals dialog box opens.

3 From the Definitions tab, select the type of subtotal function you want to
use on the report.

4 Click OK to complete the subtotal definition. The subtotals are displayed

on the report.

For information on using subtotals in custom groups, see the Custom Groups
and Consolidations chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

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4. ANSWERING QUESTIONS
ABOUT DATA
Filters, Drilling, and Hierarchies

Introduction

Filters are an integral part of almost every report. Filters screen the data that
the report brings back from your data source. To successfully interpret the
data displayed in a report, it is important to understand what data was
specifically included in that report, as well as what data was excluded. This
chapter shows you how to view a report filter’s definition, and provides
examples for simple and more complex filters. See Filtering data, page 110.

Drilling is one of the most powerful data analysis functionalities 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. See Drilling into related data, page 119.

Drilling successfully on data in a report requires that you understand how

business attributes in a reporting project can relate to each other within
higher-level business concepts called hierarchies. Hierarchies and drilling
are covered in this chapter. See Understanding hierarchies, page 114.

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Filtering data
A report filter sifts the data in your data source to bring back the information
that answers exactly what you require. The following image shows a report
that has not had a filter added to it. (This is the Yearly Revenue Growth by
Customer Region report, located in the sample Tutorial project.) You can see
that the filter is empty by looking at the information in the Report details
pane above the report, as shown in the image below:

(To display report details for any report, click the Report Details icon .)

Now a filter is applied to the report, for the Eastern regions of the United
States (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast). The following image shows
the Yearly Revenue Growth by Customer Region report “filtered on” specific
regions. You can see the filter’s definition in the Report details pane above
the report. The filter definition is {Customer Region} = Northeast,
Mid-Atlantic, Southeast.

A more complex filter is used in the next report. The report shows revenue
and revenue forecasts. The filter selects only that data related to a company’s

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electronics products, only for the company’s northeastern and Mid-Atlantic

US stores, and only for the current year. The filter’s definition is:

[Category = Electronics] And [Quarter = 2006 Q1,2006

Q2,2006 Q3 or 2006 Q4] And [Region = Northeast or
Mid-Atlantic]

The report and its filter are shown in the image below.

Filters are usually created and added to reports by a report designer. For any
report, you can easily see not only whether a report has a filter applied to it,
but also what that filter’s definition is. You can view this information in the
Report Details pane, as shown in the images above. This information helps
you understand exactly what data in your data source was included in the
report’s results, as well as what was excluded. For steps to view a filter’s
definition in a report, see Viewing a filter’s definition, page 112.

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OLAP Services view filters and regular filters

MicroStrategy OLAP Services lets MicroStrategy Developer, Web, and Office

users slice and dice data in reports without having to re-execute SQL against
the data source. Different from a report filter that restricts how much data is
retrieved from the data source, a view filter dynamically limits the data being
displayed on a report without re-executing the report against the warehouse.

The advantage of using both standard report filters and view filters on a
report is that the report can use the standard report filter to bring back more
data than can usefully be displayed at any one time. The analyst can then use
a view filter to change the data displayed, as long as it falls within the data
already retrieved from the database. The analyst generates a view report,
which is the result of a view filter. A view filter does not trigger re-execution
against the data source. This capability translates into improved response
time and decreased database load.

For details on MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see OLAP Services, page 15.

Viewing a filter’s definition

Use the appropriate procedure below to view a report’s filtering information
in MicroStrategy Web.

To specify the information that you want displayed in Report Details, see
Customizing the Report Details pane, page 112.

To see a report’s filtering information in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a report.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Details. The Report Details pane
appears, showing a Report Description and the details of any filter that is
included on the report.

Customizing the Report Details pane

MicroStrategy Developer users can determine what information appears in
the Report Details pane for all reports viewed on their machines. You can
configure the following report details:

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• Filter details, which display the report filter and report limit by default,
although other types of filters can be displayed

• Report limit details, which display the report limit

• Prompt details, which display the prompt information for all prompts in
the report

• Report details, which display the report description, prompt details, filter
details, and template details.

• Template details, which display the complete template details, including

attribute and metric details

You can configure different options for different types of report details. For
example, you can select whether to include view filter information or the
attribute name in the filter details. For report details, you can choose
whether to include information on prompts or filters. For complete
descriptions of all the report detail options, see the MicroStrategy Developer
Help (formerly the MicroStrategy Desktop Help) or the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

The following image displays the report description, report filter, and report
limits information in the Report Details pane in a report:

You can configure the report details for a specific report, with the Report
Details Formatting option in the Report Editor, or for the entire project, with

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the Project Configuration Editor. Settings configured at the report level

override settings configured at the project level. For steps to set the report
details formatting options, see the Developer Help or the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

The Report Details preferences specified in the Developer Preferences dialog

box override the report details properties that control whether the following
information is displayed:

• Report description

• Prompt details

• Filter details

• Definition of shortcut filters

• View filter details

• Metric details

You can change this behavior by disabling Developer Preferences for report
details, as described in the following procedure. For steps to customize
report details using Developer Preferences, see the Developer Help or the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

To disable Developer Preferences for report details

1 In Developer, from the Tools menu, select Preferences. The Developer

Preferences dialog box opens.

2 Expand the Reports category, and then select Report Details.

3 To use the report details properties instead of the Developer Preferences,

clear the Apply these Developer preferences to the Report Details
check box.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

Understanding hierarchies
Most data calculation in a business reporting environment is based on the
concept of levels. Hierarchies are an important part of understanding levels

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in MicroStrategy. To understand a hierarchy, you must first know what a

business attribute (generally called an attribute) is. This section defines an
attribute, describes a hierarchy, and then explains the concept of levels.

Business attributes
An attribute is a business concept, such as Store, Employee, Geographical
Region, or Year. These concepts help you understand the business data
(usually numbers) stored in your data source. While knowing your
company’s total sales is useful, knowing where and when the sales took place
provides the kind of analytical depth you require on a regular basis.
Attributes provide the answers to the questions “where” and “when”.

Attributes appear on reports as row headings or column headings, to tell you

what the data in that row or column is for.

Behind the scenes, attributes are MicroStrategy objects associated with one
or more columns in a lookup table within your data source. In a reporting
environment, attributes provide a context for calculating data and filtering
data. Attributes help you make sense of the business facts stored in the data
source.

For example, you have a report with the Month, Year, and Region attributes
on it, as well as a Revenue metric based on the Revenue fact. When executed,
the report displays your company’s revenue by region, and for a given month
and year. It might tell you that the northeast region brought in a million
dollars in revenue in the first three months of last year. Because of the
attributes on the report (Region, Month, and Year), a substantial amount of
information is available, such as which regions produced the least revenue
and which years saw the highest growth in revenue. If you remove the
attributes from the report, you can only see how much revenue the entire
company grew in total, over all time.

The attributes your organization’s project designer creates are based on

whatever business concepts are important to your organization. By
converting each of these important business concepts into an individual
object that can be placed on a report, concepts like Day, Month, Quarter, and
Year, or Region, City, and Customer, can appear on a report that displays
data within the context of those attributes.

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Hierarchies
A hierarchy is made up of a group of related business attributes that are
conceptually related to each other. (For a description and examples of
attributes, see Business attributes, page 115.)

For example, an organization’s data source tables may be updated daily with
sales data, and they may store inventory information that is updated
monthly. The data source may also store specific financial data in its tables
on a quarterly or annual basis. All of this data is stored based on the concepts
of day, month, quarter, and year. Therefore, when a MicroStrategy project is
created based on the data in this data source, attributes will likely be created
to represent Day, Month, Quarter, and Year so that daily sales data can be
reported, monthly inventory can be reported, and reports of financial data
can display quarterly or annual details and summaries for corporate
presentations.

If your data source contains data on daily sales figures, can you see weekly,
monthly, or annual sales figures? Yes, you can if you drill to that data, which
works because of hierarchies.

The attributes Day, Month, Quarter, and Year all share one thing in
common: they are all concepts that describe the larger idea of time. Because
they are all part of the same higher-level concept, these attributes are
combined into a group called a hierarchy; in this case, the attributes Day,
Month, Quarter, and Year are combined into the Time hierarchy. Within a
hierarchy, attributes are arranged in a specific way that is based on their
relationship to each other. The Year attribute is the highest-level attribute in
the Time hierarchy because it encompasses all the other concepts of time

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(Day, Month, and Quarter). The lowest-level attribute, or least-inclusive

attribute, in this hierarchy is Day. This Time hierarchy is shown below:

The example above shows a hierarchy of all the attributes that relate to the
business concept of Time. (These attributes and this hierarchy are part of the
sample Tutorial project.)

This hierarchical grouping of related business attributes is useful for

analyzing data in a reporting project. For example, the sales data is stored in
the data source on a daily basis. But what if you want to see a report showing
monthly sales data? Because Day and Month are part of the same hierarchy,
you can simply drill from the daily sales data displayed on the report, up to
monthly sales data. The new report you drill to (which contains monthly
sales data) is recalculated automatically based on the drilling path you select.
“Drilling up” reflects the direction you are drilling into the data in relation to
where the attribute exists within the hierarchy: you drill from Day (shown on
the report) up the Time hierarchy to Month (which appears on the new,
drilled-to report).

In another example, imagine that your company is an Internet-based retailer

and has its call centers all over the U.S., and therefore stores its employee
data in your data source within the concept of geographical locations within
the U.S. The related business attributes within this idea of geographical

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location become part of the Geography hierarchy. An example using sample

data from the Tutorial project is shown below:

In the Geography hierarchy above, Country is the highest-level attribute and

Employee is the lowest-level attribute.

 Employee might just as likely be the highest-level attribute in a

hierarchy called Employee Resources, which includes related lower
level attributes like Profile (Age Range, Gender, Nationality,
Ethnicity, Education and Degree Type, Marital Status), Hire Date,
Leave Date, Date of Birth, Title, Address, Department, Division,
Location, Salary Range Level, and so on. Which attributes are grouped
into what hierarchies is decided by your organization’s system
architect or project designer when a MicroStrategy project is first
created. If you are interested in complete details, see the
MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

How data is aggregated on a report: metric level

When more than one attribute is on a report, as is generally the case, a metric
is calculated by default at the lowest level that is on the report. As described
in Hierarchies, page 116, the lowest level is usually the attribute that reflects
the least-inclusive business concept, such as Day (in a Time hierarchy) or
Employee (in a Geography hierarchy).

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For example, imagine a report that shows your company’s revenue listed by
month and year. The report therefore contains the metric Revenue, and the
attributes Year and Month. Is the Revenue metric going to be summed up
and displayed by year? Or is it going to be summed up and displayed by
month? Since a metric is calculated by default at the level of the lowest
attribute that is on the report, in this example the metric results are
calculated to reflect monthly sales data, since Month is a less-inclusive, or
lower-level, concept than Year.

Be aware that the person who created the metrics on your report can change
this default level of calculation. If you have questions about what level your
metric data is being calculated for, contact your organization’s MicroStrategy
report designer or metric designer.

Drilling into related data

Drilling allows you to view report data at levels other than that originally
displayed in the report. (To understand levels, read Understanding
hierarchies, page 114.) It allows you to retrieve more information after a
report has been executed. You can investigate the data in your report quickly
and easily with the help of drilling. Drilling automatically executes another
report based on the original report to get more detailed or supplemental
information.

 Toacross,
understand what you are doing when you are drilling up, down, or
you should understand the concept of hierarchies. See
Understanding hierarchies, page 114 for an introduction to this
concept.

For example, you look at the revenue, cost, and profit data for all your stores,
at the regional level. The sample report is shown below.

You decide that you want to look at this information at the Call Center level.
Right-click the Region column header, and choose Drill to Call Center. A new

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report is automatically created, the metrics are recalculated to reflect the new
attribute that you are drilling to, and the report displays the revenue, cost,
and profit data for your stores by call center. The new report is shown below:

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

report, they are two entirely different reports. The two reports can be saved
or changed independently of each other. For steps, see Tracking your drill
path and naming the drilled-to report, page 134.

You can drill on attribute elements, consolidations, custom groups, and

metrics, both on the report and in the page-by field. Consolidations and
custom groups are described in detail in the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide, but drilling on them is included in the following
procedures.

Methods for drilling on a report

Depending on the drilling method that you choose, you can drill on the entire
report or only a part of the report. Some drilling methods provide more
drilling options than others. All these methods use the default settings
defined by the report designer. For descriptions of the settings that you can
change to control the drilling behavior, including steps, see Controlling
drilling behavior to affect report results, page 135.

• Drilling on a grid report in Developer, page 121

• Drilling on a grid report in MicroStrategy Web, page 124

• Drilling on a graph report, page 126

• Drilling on a report in Grid Graph view, page 130

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• Changing drilling options while drilling, page 130

Drilling is often performed on the attribute elements in a report. Elements of

an attribute are the values of an attribute. For example, 2011 and 2012 are
elements of the Year attribute, while New York and London are elements of
the City attribute.

Drilling on a grid report in Developer

The following steps describe the different methods for drilling in Developer.

To drill on a grid report in Developer

1 Open a grid report in Developer.

2 Do one of the following:

• To drill using the default drill path for a single element: Double-click
the attribute element. The resulting report uses the default drill path,
which can drill in any direction (up, down, or across), for a single
element.

For example, if your report shows the attribute Region, the
attribute elements might be Central, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.
The default drill path for Region drills down to Call Center.
Double-click one of the regions (one of the attribute elements) to
drill down to see the call center level data for that region. So, if you
double-click Central, you are drilling down to display data for
Milwaukee and Fargo.
• To drill on an attribute element and select the drill destination:
Right-click the attribute element, point to Drill, point to the drill
direction, and then select the destination.
 For example, using the same report with Region, right-click a
region to drill up to view the country level for that region. So, if you
right-click Central, point to Drill, point to Up, and select Country,
you are drilling up to display data for USA.

• To drill on multiple attribute elements: Select the attribute elements

to drill on by holding down SHIFT or CTRL while right-clicking. From
the shortcut menu, point to Drill, point to the drill direction, and then
select the destination.

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
For example, using the same report with Region, right-click
multiple regions to drill across to view the year level for those
regions. So, if you SHIFT+right-click Central and Mid-Atlantic,
point to Drill, point to Other Directions, point to Time, and select
Year, you are displaying data for the Central and Mid-Atlantic
regions at the year level.

• To drill on a consolidation or a consolidation element: Drilling on

consolidations is similar to drilling on attributes. You can drill:
 From a consolidation element using the default drill path, which
drills down to the attributes that comprise the consolidation. For
example, a seasons consolidation uses the Month of Year attribute.
The default drill path drills down from the Spring consolidation
element to the March, April, and May elements of the Month of
Year attribute.

On a consolidation element and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Spring consolidation element to
Category.

On multiple consolidation elements and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Spring and Summer consolidation
elements to March, April, May, June, July, and August.

 Aways
consolidation allows you to group attribute elements in new
without changing the metadata and warehouse
definitions. The groups are called consolidation elements. For
background information, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

• To drill on a custom group or a custom group element: Drilling on

custom groups is similar to drilling on attributes. You can drill:

From a custom group element using the default drill path, which
drills down to the attributes that comprise the consolidation. For
example, an age custom group filters on the Customer Age
attribute. The default drill path drills down from the Under 25
custom group element to the 19-24 elements of the Customer Age
attribute.
 On a custom group element and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Under 25 custom group element to
Category.

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
On multiple custom group elements and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Under 25 and 25-35 custom group
elements to the 19-35 attribute elements.

 Atemplate.
custom group is a set of special filters that can be placed on a
A custom group is made up of an ordered collection
of elements called custom group elements. For background
information, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

• To drill on a metric: Right-click the metric, point to Drill, point to the

drill direction, and then select the destination.

 Ifmetrics),
the metric is a compound metric (composed of multiple
the only destination is Drill to Details. The drilled-to
report will display the metrics that comprise the compound
metric.

• To drill on the page-by field: Right-click the page-by field, point to

Drill, point to the drill direction, and then select the destination.

For example, using the same report, paged by Region, right-click
the page-by field to view the call center level for that region. So, if
Central is displayed in the page-by field and you right-click
Central, point to Drill, point to Down, and select Call Center, you
are drilling down to display data for Milwaukee and Fargo.

 You can select whether the drilled-to report is filtered by the

current page-by. For a description of this option, see
Determining the effect of the page-by field on the resulting
report, page 144.

• To drill on the entire report: Click the Drill toolbar button or select
Drill from the Data menu. The Drill dialog box opens.
a From the Selected object drop-down list, choose the object on
which to drill, or select Free drilling to drill in any direction in the
system hierarchy.

b In Drilling options, select the direction of the drill and the object to
drill to.

 The remaining options on this dialog box are described in

Controlling drilling behavior to affect report results, page 135.

c Click OK to view the new report that is automatically created and

executed based on your chosen drilling action.

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
For example, using the same report with Region, drilling down to
Call Center on the entire report displays the call center data for all
the regions.

Drilling on a grid report in MicroStrategy Web

The following steps describe the different methods for drilling in

MicroStrategy Web.

To drill on a grid report in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a grid report in MicroStrategy Web.

2 Do one of the following:


To drill using the default drill path for a single element: When you
hover your cursor over an attribute element, a tooltip displays the
destination of the default drill. Click the attribute element to execute
the default drill.

For example, if your report shows the attribute Region, the
attribute elements might be Central, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast.
The default drill path for Region drills down to Call Center. Click
one of the regions (one of the attribute elements) to drill down to
see the call center level data for that region. So, if you click Central,
you are drilling down to display data for Milwaukee and Fargo.

• To drill on an attribute element and select the drill destination:

Right-click the attribute element, point to Drill, and select the
destination.
 For example, using the same report with Region, right-click a
region to drill up to view the country level for that region. So, if you
right-click Central, point to Drill, and select Country, you are
drilling up to display data for USA.

• To drill on multiple attribute elements: Select the attribute elements

to drill on by clicking and holding down SHIFT or CTRL. Right-click
the selections, point to Drill, and select the destination.
 For example, using the same report with Region, SHIFT+click
multiple regions to drill across to view the year level for those
regions. So, if you SHIFT+click Central and Mid-Atlantic, point to
Drill, point to Time, and select Year, you are displaying data for the
Central and Mid-Atlantic regions at the year level.

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• To drill on a consolidation or a consolidation element: Drilling on

consolidations is similar to drilling on attributes. You can drill:
 From a consolidation element using the default drill path, which
drills down to the attributes that comprise the consolidation. For
example, a seasons consolidation uses the Month of Year attribute.
The default drill path drills down from the Spring consolidation
element to the March, April, and May elements of the Month of
Year attribute.
 On a consolidation element and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Spring consolidation element to
Category.

On multiple consolidation elements and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Spring and Summer consolidation
elements to March, April, May, June, July, and August.

 Aways
consolidation allows you to group attribute elements in new
without changing the metadata and warehouse
definitions. The groups are called consolidation elements. For
background information, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

• To drill on a custom group or a custom group element: Drilling on

custom groups is similar to drilling on attributes. You can drill:

From a custom group element using the default drill path, which
drills down to the attributes that comprise the consolidation. For
example, an age custom group filters on the Customer Age
attribute. The default drill path drills down from the Under 25
custom group element to the 19-24 elements of the Customer Age
attribute.

On a custom group element and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Under 25 custom group element to
Category.
 On multiple custom group elements and select the destination. For
example, you can drill from the Under 25 and 25-35 custom group
elements to the 19-35 attribute elements.

 Atemplate.
custom group is a set of special filters that can be placed on a
A custom group is made up of an ordered collection
of elements called custom group elements. For background
information, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.
• To drill on a compound metric (composed of multiple metrics):
Right-click the metric, point to Drill, and select the destination, which
lists the metrics that make up the compound metric.

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
For example, if a report contains a compound metric composed of
the Revenue and Profit metrics, right-click the compound metric
to drill to the Revenue and Profit metrics.

• To drill on the page-by field: Right-click the page-by field, point to

Drill, and select the destination.
 For example, using the same report, paged by Region, right-click
the page-by field to view the call center level for that region. So, if
Central is displayed in the page-by field and you right-click
Central, point to Drill, and select Call Center, you are drilling down
to display data for Milwaukee and Fargo.

• To drill on the entire report: Right-click an attribute (not an element),

point to Drill, and select the destination.

For example, using the same report with Region, right-click the
Region header to drill down to view the call center level for all the
regions on the original report.

3 To return to the original report results, click the Back icon above the
report.

 Clicking the Back button on your browser does not return you to
the original report results.

Drilling on a graph report

In most views, you can drill on a graph report just like you drill on a grid
report, to analyze additional levels of data within the report. Double-click (in
Developer) or click (in Web) a graph component to drill using the default
drill path. Right-click a graph component to access additional drill paths.
When you drill on a graph, a new graph is displayed.

The different methods of drilling on a graph are described below, using an

report that contains the Region attribute, and the Revenue and Profit
metrics. The report is displayed as a bar graph.

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• To drill on all categories, click a category, which selects all the categories.
Right-click and point to Drill, then select the destination, as shown in the
example below. The new report adds the drilled-to attribute as a category.

If you drill down to Call Center, the new report displays revenue and
profit values for each call center in all the regions.

 In MicroStrategy Web, you cannot drill on all categories.

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• To drill on a single category, right-click the category, point to Drill, and

then select the destination, as shown below. The new report adds the
drilled-to attribute as a category.

If you drill down to Call Center, the new report displays revenue and
profit values for each call center in the selected region, which is Central in
this example.

 InthenMicroStrategy Web, right-click the category, point to Drill, and

select the destination.

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• To drill on the series, right-click the series, point to Drill, and then select
the destination, as shown below. The new report adds the drilled-to
attribute as a series.

If you drill down to Call Center, the new report displays revenue and
profit values for each call center in all the regions. The categories display
as the regions, while separate bars are shown for each call center.

In MicroStrategy Developer, you can drill on all metrics, including
compound metrics (metrics made up of other metrics). When you
drill on a compound metric, the resulting report displays the
compound metric and the metrics that make up the compound
metric.

In MicroStrategy Web, you can drill on compound metrics. You
can choose to drill either to the metrics that make up the
compound metric, or to an attribute.

For detailed steps to drill on a graph report, including specific details on

which views and display methods support drilling, see the Developer Help
(formerly the Desktop Help) or Web Help.

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Drilling on a report in Grid Graph view

If you are in Grid Graph view, you can generally drill on either the grid or the
graph. The new report displays the drilled-to grid and graph. Click Help to
see specific details on which display methods support drilling.

Changing drilling options while drilling

When you drill using the procedures described above, you are using the
default drilling options defined by the report designer. You can change some
of these drilling options while you are drilling, for the specific drill that you
are performing. In Developer, you can change these options for an entire
report, as described in Customizing drilling behavior, page 136. A Web
administrator can also customize drill settings under the Drill Mode page of
Project Defaults.

To change drilling options while drilling in Developer

1 Open a report in Developer.

2 From the Data menu, select Drill. The Drill dialog box opens.

3 From the Selected object drop-down list, select the object to drill on.

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4 In the Drilling options pane, select the direction of the drill and browse to
the attribute to drill to. After you select the attribute, the dialog box
should look similar to the image below.

5 Determine whether or not the new report will display the parent attribute
(the attribute from which you are drilling), by selecting one of the
following from the Keep parent drop-down list:
• To display the parent attribute, select Yes.

• To remove the parent attribute, select No.

• To use the default defined by the report designer, select Default.

For examples of keeping and removing the parent attribute, see Keeping
or removing the drilled-from attribute in the new report, page 139.

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6 If your report contains thresholds, choose whether or not to keep

thresholds on the new report. If your report does not contain thresholds,
this option is unavailable.

• To keep thresholds, select Yes from the Keep thresholds drop-down

list.

• To remove thresholds, select No from the Keep thresholds

drop-down list.

• To use the default defined by the report designer, select Default.

For considerations on drilling from a report that contains thresholds, see

Drilling on a report with threshold formatting, page 141.

7 Across-level subtotals are calculated across selected attribute

levels—rows, columns, or pages. Determine whether or not to display
across-level subtotals in the new report by selecting one of the following
from the Inherit across-level subtotal from parent drop-down list:

• To display across-level subtotals, select Yes.

• To hide across-level subtotals, select No. Across-level subtotals are

still displayed unless Keep parent while drilling is set to No and you
are drilling from the object that is the level of the subtotal.

• To use the default defined by the report designer, select Default.

For considerations on drilling from a report with across-level subtotals,

see Drilling on a report with subtotals calculated across levels, page 158.
For a more detailed description of across-level subtotals, see the Reports
chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

8 If you are using an attribute in the page-by field on the original report, the
When drilling, add the current page-by element as part of the filter
check box is enabled.

• To filter the new report by the current page-by element, select the
check box. The new report contains data only for the current page-by
element.

• To keep the page-by fields of the original report, clear the check box.
The new report contains data for all the page-by elements.

For considerations on drilling from a paged report, see Drilling on a

report grouped by page-by fields, page 144. For a description of the
page-by feature, see Grouping data by page, page 85.

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9 Click OK to view the new report that is automatically created and

executed based on your chosen drilling action.

To change drilling options while drilling in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a report in MicroStrategy Web.

2 From the Data menu, select Drill. The Drill panel is displayed.

3 Determine whether or not the new report will display the parent attribute
(the attribute from which you are drilling), by doing one of the following:

• To display the parent attribute, select the Keep parent while drilling
check box.

• To remove the parent attribute, clear the Keep parent while drilling
check box.

For examples of keeping and removing the parent attribute, see Keeping
or removing the drilled-from attribute in the new report, page 139.

4 If you are drilling down, from the To drop-down list under the attribute
or compound metric that you want to drill from, select the attribute to
drill to.

5 To drill in any other direction, follow the steps below:

a Click the More options link next to the attribute or compound metric
to drill from. The Drill - Advanced panel is displayed, with a
drop-down list of the hierarchies to which you can drill from the
selected attribute. The drop-down list below the first list displays
objects within that hierarchy to which you can drill.
b From the list of hierarchies, select a hierarchy to drill to.

c From the list of attributes, select the attribute to drill to.

6 Click Apply next to the chosen attribute or metric. A new report is

automatically created and executed based on your chosen drilling action.

 The new report displays the Drill panel, even if you used the Drill -
Advanced panel to create the report.

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7 You can perform another drill from this new report using the Drill panel,
or you can return to the original report results by clicking the Back link
above the report.

 Clicking the Back button on your browser does not return you to
the original report results.

Tracking your drill path and naming the drilled-to report

When you drill from a report, the name of the resulting, drilled-to report
automatically becomes the original report’s name plus the name of the object
that you drilled to.

For example, in the Inventory and Unit Sales report in the Tutorial project,
you can drill from the Item attribute up to the Category attribute. The
resulting, drilled-to report’s name is “Inventory and Unit Sales -> Category”.
You then drill from this resulting report by drilling down from Category to
Subcategory. The drilled-to report’s name is “Inventory and Unit Sales ->
Category -> Subcategory”. If you then drill across from Subcategory to
Region, the resulting report’s name is “Inventory and Unit Sales -> Category
-> Subcategory -> Region”.

You can use this report name to track your drilling path, which is especially
useful if you continue to drill from each resulting, drilled-to report.

If you drill repeatedly along a single path, at some point the report’s name
can become too long or cumbersome to be useful. Consider saving a specific
drilled-to report with a new name that is useful for you. Then, when you
continue drilling from that report, your drill path as reflected by each
resulting report’s name is shorter and more useful again.

Saving a drilled-to report

After you save a report, you and others can execute it in the future. The saved
report’s name and its definition such as the report filtering criteria and
report formatting information are stored in the MicroStrategy metadata
repository.

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To save a report

This procedure assumes that you have drilled to a new report, and that you
have that report open.

1 From the report’s File menu, select Save As.

2 Navigate to the location in which you want to save the new report.

 Each project’s Public Objects folder is available to all users who

have access to that project. In contrast, each project’s My Personal
Objects folder (and the folders within it) is available only to the
user who is logged in at the time a report or other object is saved to
this folder.

3 Give your new report a name that reflects its use as a business intelligence
data analysis tool.

4 Click Save.

Controlling drilling behavior to affect report

results
You can set various options that determine how drilling works on a given
report. These allow you to control how other users drill on the report when
they execute it, or to preserve your own most useful drilling paths and
drilling behavior for later reuse on a given report. For background
information on drilling and drilling paths, see Hierarchies, page 116.

Most drilling options involve attributes on reports. An attribute is a

MicroStrategy object that represents business data in your data source, such
as Customer, Product, or Store. For background information on attributes,
see Business attributes, page 115.

You can control how drilling behaves on a report with the options described
in this section.

 You can change these options for an entire report, as described in the
procedures in the following sections. You can also change many of
these options for a specific drill action, while you are drilling in

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Developer. A Web administrator can also customize drill settings

under the Drill Mode page of Project Defaults.

Customizing drilling behavior

To find the best ways to customize drilling for your way of working or to suit
your reporting goals, see the following table for suggestions.

What do you want to do? Solutions

Reduce the width of reports, especially when Do not allow the attribute that you are drilling on to
drilling. appear in the drilled-to report. To customize this behavior,
see Keeping or removing the drilled-from attribute in the
new report, page 139.

Keep track of the drill path so that you can • The report name automatically adjusts each time that
remember what reports you drilled from for you drill, by adding the drilled-to object’s name to the
each new, drilled-to report. end of the report’s name. For ideas on managing the
report’s name as it grows, see Tracking your drill path
and naming the drilled-to report, page 134.
• Make sure each attribute that you drill on appears in
the resulting, drilled-to report, so the object that you
drilled on always appears in the subsequent report. To
customize this behavior, see Keeping or removing the
drilled-from attribute in the new report, page 139.

Restrict other users of a report from being Restrict drilling paths to drilling down only. To do this, see
able to drill wherever the report allows. Enabling drilling down or drilling anywhere, page 137.

Have the drilled-to report show only data Use the procedure described in Drilling to a report with
related to the currently visible page-by object page-by fields restricted to visible pages on the original
on the drilled-from report. report, page 148.

Have page-by fields on the drilled-to report Use the procedure described in Drilling to a report that is
show exactly the same information that they unaffected by page-by fields, page 145.
displayed on the drilled-from report.

Have the drilled-to report display subtotals, if Use the procedure described in Drilling on a report with
the drilled-from report also contained them. subtotals calculated across levels, page 158.

Enable drilling in all directions. Use the procedure described in Enabling drilling down or
drilling anywhere, page 137.

Restrict drilling to lower-level attributes within Use the procedure described in Enabling drilling down or
a given hierarchy. drilling anywhere, page 137.

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Basic Reporting Guide Answering Questions about Data 4

Enabling drilling down or drilling anywhere

For a given report, you can enable drilling in all directions or restrict drilling
to lower-level attributes in a given hierarchy.

• Drill anywhere: When this option is selected in the procedure below,

users can view data associated with the object they drill from, no matter
which direction in the attribute’s hierarchy they drill. For example:
 A user can drill down from an attribute to the child attribute data, for
example, drilling from Year data down to Month data.


A user can drill up from an attribute to the attribute’s parent attribute
data, for example, drilling from Item data up to Category data.

 A user can drill across to other, related attributes, for example,

drilling from Region data across to Category data.

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• Drill down only: When this option is selected in the procedure below,
users can only view data associated with objects lower in the hierarchy
than the attribute on which they are drilling. For example:

Drilling down from the Month attribute or one of its elements, users
can only drill to Day.


Drilling down from the Category attribute or one of its elements, users
can only drill to Subcategory and Item.

For background information on drilling and how to drill on a report, see

Hierarchies, page 116.

To enable drilling in Developer

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

3 Expand General in the list of categories, then select Drilling.

4 If it is not already selected, select the Enable Report Drilling check box.

5 Select one of the following options:

• Drill anywhere: Users can view data associated with the object they
drill from, no matter which direction in the attribute’s hierarchy they
drill: up, down, or across. Examples are provided above.
• Drill down only: Users can only view data associated with objects
lower in the hierarchy than the attribute on which they are drilling.
Examples are provided above.

6 Click OK to save your settings and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

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To enable drilling in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 On the General tab, select one of the following options:

• Drill anywhere: Users can view data associated with the object they
drill from, no matter which direction in the attribute’s hierarchy they
drill: up, down, or across. Examples are provided above.
• Drill down only: Users can only view data associated with objects
lower in the hierarchy than the attribute on which they are drilling.
Examples are provided above.

4 Click OK to save your settings and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

Keeping or removing the drilled-from attribute in the new report

When you drill on a report, you can have the drilled-from attribute and its
related data displayed in the resulting report, or you can choose to not
display the drilled-from attribute on the resulting report. The following
examples show the results of both of these options.

For example, a report contains Country, Region, and the Revenue metric, as
shown below:

You drill down from Region to Call Center. To do this, you right-click on
Region, select Drill, select Down, and select Call Center. If you specify that

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the drilled-from attribute (called the parent attribute) is kept on the

drilled-to report, Region (the drilled-from attribute) appears on the
drilled-to report along with Call Center (the drilled-to attribute), as shown
below:

If you specify that the drilled-from attribute is not kept, when you drill down
from Region to Call Center, Call Center replaces Region on the drilled-to
report as shown below:

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Keeping the drilled-from attribute can be helpful to trace your drilling path.
However, resulting reports can become very wide if you have many attributes
and metrics. Not keeping the drilled-from attribute can help reduce the
width of drilled-to reports.

The default behavior is to keep the drilled-from attribute on the drilled-to

report. Be aware that the report’s designer may have changed the default.

 You can change this option for an entire report using MicroStrategy
Developer, as described in the procedure below. In MicroStrategy
Web or Developer, you can specify whether to keep or remove the
drilled-from attribute while you are drilling, for that specific drill
action. For steps, see Changing drilling options while drilling,
page 130.

To keep or remove the drilled-from attribute when drilling

1 Open a grid report in Developer.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

3 Expand General in the list of categories, then select Drilling.

4 Select one of the following options from the Keep Parent While Drilling
drop-down list:

• To ensure the drilled-from attribute appears on the drilled-to report,

select Yes.

• To ensure the drilled-from attribute does not appear on the drilled-to

report, select No.

5 Click OK to save your settings and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

Drilling on a report with threshold formatting

Thresholds are conditional formatting that appears on report data when
certain, specified conditions are met. For example, if certain cells of data
appear bolded or have a red background on a report, that is data that has met
a specified threshold and so is formatted differently to highlight it. For

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background information on thresholds, see Formatting conditional values

on a grid: Thresholds, page 25.

You can have thresholds on the drilled-from report be displayed

automatically on any drilled-to report. For example, a report containing the
Region attribute and the Revenue metric has a threshold that highlights
revenue greater than $2 million. The revenue amount is bolded when the
threshold is met, as shown in the image below:

When you drill from Region to Call Center, the revenue amounts are
recalculated for the Call Centers. For the drilled-to report, you can determine
whether revenue over $2 million should still appear bolded.

If you choose to keep thresholds while drilling, and you drill down from
Region to Call Center, Revenue amounts over $2 million are bolded on the
drilled-to report, as shown below:

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If you choose to remove thresholds while drilling, and you drill down from
Region to Call Center, no data is bolded, as shown below:

When deciding whether to enable this option, be aware that, when a report is
drilled on, thresholds can become meaningless. For example, if you drill up
on an attribute, all the data in the new report could potentially meet the
threshold condition. Using the example above where revenue over $2 million
is bolded, if you drill up from Region to Country, the entire report is likely to
consist of revenue over $2 million. The thresholds then only clutter the
report and do not provide any meaningful information.

The default behavior retains the threshold on the drilled-to report. Be aware
that the report’s designer may have changed the default behavior.

 You can change this option for an entire report using MicroStrategy
Developer, as described in the procedure below. In Developer, you can
specify whether to keep or remove thresholds while you are drilling,
for that specific drill action. For steps, see Changing drilling options
while drilling, page 130.

To keep or remove thresholds when drilling

1 Open a grid report in Developer.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

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3 Expand General in the list of categories, then select Drilling.

4 Select one of the following options from the Keep thresholds while
drilling drop-down list:

• To ensure that thresholds appear on the drilled-to report, select Yes.

• To ensure that thresholds do not appear on the drilled-to report,

select No.

5 Click OK to save your settings and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

Drilling on a report grouped by page-by fields

Page-by is a method of grouping large amounts of report data so you only see
a separate subset, or page, of data on the report at one time. For example, in
a report that shows sales numbers for every country in which your
organization does business, if you only want to see one country’s data per
page of the report, you put the Country attribute in the page-by pane. For a
full description of page-by and examples, see Grouping data by page,
page 85.

Determining the effect of the page-by field on the resulting

report

You can determine how the page-by field on a drilled-from report affects the
drilled-to report. Specifically, if a report you want to drill on contains a
page-by field (that displays an attribute or a metric, for example) at the top of
the report, you can choose whether to have the object that is currently visible
in the page-by field be part of the filter for the drilled-to report.

For example, you have a report that shows sales data for individual
countries, one country at a time. It has the Country attribute in the page-by
pane above the report. If the currently visible page-by field says Country:
USA, and you drill down on the report, which one of the following results do
you want to see:

• Data for all countries continues to be displayed on the drilled-to report,

one country at a time.
• Only data related to the USA is displayed, and no other countries can be
selected in the page-by field.

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The options described in the following sections let you determine how you
want drilling to perform when you drill on a report that has one or more
page-by fields:

• Drilling to a report that is unaffected by page-by fields, page 145

• Drilling to a report with page-by fields restricted to visible pages on the

original report, page 148

• Drilling to a report with one page-by field restricted and other page-by
fields unaffected, page 151

• Drilling on a report with page-by fields in the same hierarchy, page 153

 Ifsame
your report has two or more page-by fields that have objects in the
hierarchy, page-by behavior changes slightly when drilling. Be
sure you review Drilling on a report with page-by fields in the same
hierarchy, page 153 for details.

For steps to set these options, see Customizing drilling behavior for a report
with page-by fields, page 156.

Personalizing the drilling location to affect page-by results

You can determine what part of a report will perform specific drilling
behaviors. This personalization lets you locate certain drilling behavior
within specific areas of a report to suit your drilling habits. When you drill
from the page-by field itself, by default the currently visible page-by field
becomes part of the drilled-to report’s filter. Conversely, when you drill from
the body of a report, by default the drilled-to report is identical to the original
report (except for the appearance of the object you drilled on, of course).

Drilling to a report that is unaffected by page-by fields

When you drill on a report, you can have the page-by fields of the original
report appear in exactly the same state in the drilled-to report, with all the
same paging choices available.

For example, a report contains the Region attribute and the Revenue metric,
with the Year attribute and the Subcategory attribute in the page-by fields
above the report grid. The currently selected year is 2005, shown by Year:
2005 in one page-by field. The currently selected subcategory is Art &
Architecture, shown by Subcategory: Art & Architecture in the other

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page-by field. The report has no filter. The report is shown in the image
below:

Your goal is to have these same page-by fields, showing these same options
and with the same drop-down list of selections, in the drilled-to report.

Drilling from the grid

When you drill on the report’s grid, from the Region attribute down to the
Call Center attribute, the resulting drilled-to report appears as shown below:

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Note the results in the drilled-to report:

• The new report’s filter is empty, as it was in the drilled-from report.

• The page-by fields still contain the Year attribute and the Subcategory
attribute, as they did in the drilled-from report. The drop-down lists of
the page-by fields contain all years and all subcategories, as they did in
the original report, which means you can view revenue data for other
years and subcategories in the drilled-to report.

• Call Center replaces Region in the grid of the new report because Call
Center was the object you drilled down to.

You must clear the Any page-by field and Any other part of the report
check boxes to achieve this drilling behavior. To do this, see To customize
drilling on a report that has page-by fields, page 158 below.

Drilling from the page-by pane

When you drill on one of the report’s page-by fields, for example from
Subcategory down to Item, the resulting drilled-to report appears as shown
below:

Note the results in the drilled-to report:

• The new report’s filter remains empty.

• The Year page-by field still contains the Year attribute, and the
Subcategory page-by field became the Item page-by field because that is
the object you drilled down to. The drop-down lists of the page-by fields
contain all years and all items within all subcategories, which means you

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can view revenue data for other years and items within other
subcategories in the drilled-to report.

In summary, based on setting certain drilling options, no page-by fields from

the original report have been added to the filter of the resulting report, and
therefore all years and all subcategories are included in the data of the
drilled-to report.

You must clear the Any page-by field and Any other part of the report
options to achieve this drilling behavior. To do this, see To customize drilling
on a report that has page-by fields, page 158 below.

Drilling to a report with page-by fields restricted to visible

pages on the original report

You can include all currently visible page-by fields as part of the new,
drilled-to report’s filter when you drill from the original report. As a result,
the drilled-to report contains data specific to the page-by fields currently
visible on the drilled-from report. Additionally, the page-by fields change to
display the objects on the level to which you drilled.

To illustrate this using the same example as above, a report contains the
Region attribute and the Revenue metric, with the Year attribute and the
Subcategory attribute in the page-by fields above the report grid. The
currently selected year is 2005, shown by Year: 2005 in one page-by field.
The currently selected subcategory is Art & Architecture, shown by
Subcategory: Art & Architecture in the other page-by field. The report has
no filter. The report is shown in the image below:

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Drilling from the grid

When you drill on the report’s grid, from the Region attribute down to Call
Center, the resulting drilled-to report appears as shown below:

Note the results in the drilled-to report:

• The new report’s filter contains the objects that were in the page-by fields
of the original report, namely Year = 2005 and Subcategory = Art &
Architecture.
• The Year page-by field still contains the Year attribute, and the
Subcategory page-by field still contains the Subcategory attribute.
However, the drop-down list of the Year page-by field contains only the
year that was visible on the original report when you drilled, in this case
2005. The drop-down list of the Subcategory page-by field contains only
the subcategory that was visible on the original report, in this case Art &
Architecture. This means you only view revenue data for that year and
that subcategory in the drilled-to report.

• Call Center replaces Region in the grid of the new report because Call
Center was the object you drilled down to.

You must select the Any Page-by field check box, the Apply to all page-by
fields option, and the Any other part of the report check box to achieve this
drilling behavior. To do this, see To customize drilling on a report that has
page-by fields, page 158 below.

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Drilling from the page-by pane

When you drill on a page-by field at the top of the report, for example from
Subcategory down to Item, in the resulting, drilled-to report, 2005 and Art &
Architecture have been added to the new report’s filter so that all of the
revenue data on the resulting report is 2005-specific and lists revenue only
for art and architecture books.

The drilled-to report is shown below:

Note the results in the drilled-to report:

• The filter on the drilled-to report contains 2005 and Art & Architecture.
This means the data for this drilled-to report was filtered so that only
revenue for art and architecture books in 2005 is returned.
• Item replaced Subcategory in the page-by field because you drilled down
from Subcategory to Item. In the new page-by field, 100 Places to Go
While Still Young at Heart appears because that book happens to be the
first book among all the art and architecture books that are stored in the
data source. This page-by field functions like all page-by fields, in that
only revenue for this book is included on the page currently displayed in
the new report.

In summary, based on setting specific drilling options, all page-by fields from
the original report have been added to the filter of the resulting report, and
therefore only those subcategories and years included in that filter are
included in the data of the drilled-to report.

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You must select the Any Page-by field check box, the Apply to all page-by
fields option, and the Any other part of the report check box to achieve this
drilling behavior. To do this, see To customize drilling on a report that has
page-by fields, page 158 below.

Drilling to a report with one page-by field restricted and other

page-by fields unaffected

When you drill from the original report, you can include only the page-by
field on which you drill, as part of the drilled-to report’s filter. Any other
page-by fields remain as they were on the drilled-from report. As a result, the
drilled-to report contains data specific to the drilled-on page-by field visible
on the drilled-from report. All other page-by fields stay the same as they were
on the original report.

To illustrate this using the same example as above, a report contains the
Region attribute and the Revenue metric, with the Year attribute and the
Subcategory attribute in the page-by fields above the report grid. The
currently selected year is 2005, shown by Year: 2005 in one page-by field.
The currently selected subcategory is Art & Architecture, shown by
Subcategory: Art & Architecture in the other page-by field. The report has
no filter. The report is shown in the image below:

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Drilling from the page-by pane

When you drill on a page-by field, for example from Subcategory down to
Item, the new, drilled-to report is shown below:

Note the results in the drilled-to report:

• The drilled-to report has a filter, for Art & Architecture. The filter
contains the page-by field that was drilled on and contains the object that
was visible on the page-by field in the original report.

• Item replaces Subcategory in the page-by field, because that is the object
you drilled down to.

• The drop-down list of the Year page-by field contains all years, but the
drop-down list of the Item page-by field contains only art and
architecture books, since that is the only subcategory in the filter. Only
revenue for the items in that subcategory is displayed on the report.

You must select the Any Page-by field check box and the Apply to current
page-by field option to achieve this drilling behavior. To do this, see To
customize drilling on a report that has page-by fields, page 158 below.

Drilling from the grid

The drilling behavior described above can only be achieved when you drill
from the page-by pane of a report. If you set up a report’s drilling behavior

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this way, you can choose from one of two options for how drilling from the
report’s grid should behave:

• All the page-by fields are restricted to page-by objects that were visible on
the original report. To achieve this drilling behavior, you must select the
Any Page-by field check box, the Apply to current page-by field
option, and the Any other part of the report check box.

• All page-by fields are unaffected by the drilling action and appear as they
did on the original report. To achieve this drilling behavior, you must
select the Any Pageby field check box and the Apply to current
page-by field option.

To set these options, see To customize drilling on a report that has page-by
fields, page 158 below.

Drilling on a report with page-by fields in the same hierarchy

This section assumes you understand what a hierarchy is and how attributes
are related within a hierarchy. For background information on hierarchies
and attributes, see Understanding hierarchies, page 114.

If you drill on a report that has two or more page-by fields that contain
attributes within the same hierarchy, when you drill on one of those
attributes, the drilling behavior described in the sections above is slightly
different.

Specifically, if two or more attributes in the page-by fields are in the same
hierarchy, and you drill on one of them, all related page-by fields are
restricted to the object that was visible on the original report when you
drilled.

For example, you have a report with one page-by field showing the Year
attribute, one page-by field showing the Category attribute, and one page-by

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field showing the Subcategory attribute. This report is shown in the image
below:

The Category and Subcategory attributes are both within the project’s
Product hierarchy, as shown on the left side of the image below. The Year
attribute is in a separate hierarchy.

You leave all drilling behavior options in the Report Data Options dialog box
set to default, as shown in the image below:

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These settings normally provide the following results:

• A filter is added to new report; the filter contains only the page-by object
that was drilled on.

• The drilled-on page-by field is restricted to the page-by object visible on

original report.

• All other page-by fields remain as they were on the original report.

However, when page-by fields contain related attributes, the behavior in the
third bullet above is slightly different.

To see the resulting report, you drill from the Subcategory page-by field
down to Item. The resulting report is shown in the image below, with the
Category page-by field expanded:

When drilling from any page-by field using the default behavior settings,
normally only that drilled-on page-by field is changed so that it shows only
the object that was visible in the original report. Other page-by fields are not
affected by the drilling action and remain as they appeared on the original
report.

As expected, based on your behavior settings the Subcategory page-by field

was placed in the resulting report’s filter. And as expected, the Year page-by
field remains as it was on the original report, with all years available to be
selected from the Year page-by.

However, because Category and Subcategory are in the same hierarchy, in

the resulting report the Category page-by field only displays choices related
to the subcategory that was currently visible in the original report (rather
than showing all items from all subcategories as was displayed in the

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Category page-by field in the original report). This behavior occurs because
the higher-level attribute Category must logically reflect the elements
displayed in the lower-level attribute Item that you drilled down to. The Art
& Architecture subcategory is placed in the resulting report’s filter, and thus
limits the Category page-by field to displaying only Books.

Because these attributes are connected by their relationship within the same
hierarchy, they affect each other when you drill on one of them. This causes
drilling behavior to perform slightly differently than the default behavior
described throughout this section of the manual. In summary, in a report
that has page-by fields containing attributes in the same hierarchy, when you
drill on a page-by field containing one of those attributes, all other page-by
fields with attributes in the same hierarchy are restricted to the hierarchy
level of the page-by field you drill on.

Customizing drilling behavior for a report with page-by fields

The procedure below describes the options to set drilling behavior for a
report that has one or more page-by fields. For complete details and
examples for each of these options, see the sections above. You can also refer
to the table below for a quick reference to choose the right options to achieve
the drilling behavior you prefer on a given report.

The following table summarizes the options described in detail in this section
of the manual:

Drill Location In
Option(s) Selected Appearance Of Resulting Report
Original Report

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is added to new report; filter contains
only the page-by object that was drilled on.
• Drilled-on page-by field is restricted to the
page-by object visible on original report.
• Other page-by fields remain as they were on
the original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is empty.

• All page-by fields remain as they were on the
original report.

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Drill Location In
Option(s) Selected Appearance Of Resulting Report
Original Report

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is added to new report; filter contains all
page-by objects that were visible on original
report.
• All page-by fields are restricted to the page-by
objects visible on original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is empty.

• All page-by fields remain as they were on the
original report.

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is added to new report; filter contains
only the page-by object that was drilled on.
• Drilled-on page-by field is restricted to the
page-by object visible on original report.
• Other page-by fields remain as they were on
the original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is added to new report; filter contains all
page-by objects that were visible on original
report.
• All page-by fields are restricted to the page-by
objects visible on original report.

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is added to new report; filter contains all
page-by objects that were visible on original
report.
• All page-by fields are restricted to the page-by
objects visible on original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is added to new report; filter contains all
page-by objects that were visible on original
report.
• All page-by fields are restricted to the page-by
objects visible on original report.

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is empty.

• All page-by fields remain as they were on the
original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is added to new report; filter contains all
page-by objects that were visible on original
report.
• All page-by fields are restricted to the page-by
objects visible on original report.

Drill from a page-by field • Filter is empty.

• All page-by fields remain as they were on the
original report.

Drill from the report grid • Filter is empty.

• All page-by fields remain as they were on the
original report.

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 You can change this option for an entire report using MicroStrategy
Developer, as described in the procedure below. In Developer, you can
specify the page-by options while you are drilling, for that specific drill
action. For steps, see Changing drilling options while drilling,
page 130.

To customize drilling on a report that has page-by fields

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

3 Expand General, then select Drilling.

4 You can set the following drilling options, which determine how the
page-by on the drilled-from report affects the drilled-to report, as
described in the examples above:

• Any page-by field: The page-by object is added to the filter of the
drilled-to report when you drill from a page-by field. If this is selected,
choose one of the following:

– Apply to current page-by field: Only the page-by object that is

currently visible is added to the filter of the drilled-to report.

– Apply to all page-by fields: All page-by objects are added to the
filter of the drilled-to report.

• Any other part of the report: The page-by object is added to the filter
of the drilled-to report when you drill from anywhere on the report’s
grid. You choose to locate the page-by drilling feature in the body of
the report, where most users drill from the data.

5 Click OK to save your settings and close the Report Data Options dialog
box. When you drill on this report in the future, your settings will
determine how the page-by field affects the results displayed in the
drilled-to report.

Drilling on a report with subtotals calculated across levels

A report can be designed to calculate subtotals across selected attribute
levels, also referred to as across-level subtotals. The subtotal is applied to

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particular levels—rows, columns, or pages. Across-level subtotals can be

thought of as “group by attributes to the left of the selected attribute”. (For a
detailed description of across-level subtotals, see the Reports chapter of the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.)

If a report is subtotaled across levels, you can determine whether the

subtotals on the drilled-from report are displayed on the drilled-to report.
Across-level subtotals are hidden only when all of the following is true:

• Inherit across-level subtotal from parent is set to No.

• Keep parent while drilling is set to No.

• You drill from the object that is the level of the subtotal.

The following example demonstrates how the results of the report change
when the above conditions are applied.

A report contains the Region, Category, and Revenue metrics. Subtotals are
calculated across all elements of the attribute Category. The attribute to the
left of Category is Region, so the subtotals are grouped and calculated for
each region, as shown in the portion of the report displayed below.

By default, subtotals are inherited from the parent. Drill from Category to
Subcategory. In the resulting report, Region, Category, and Subcategory are
displayed. Since the subtotals are inherited, subtotals are applied across the
levels of both Category and Subcategory. Subtotals are therefore calculated

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for Category and Region, the attributes to the left of Category and
Subcategory. A portion of that drilled-to report is shown below.

Return to the original, drilled-from report. Specify that subtotals are not
inherited from the parent. Drill from Category to Subcategory again. As with
the previous drilled-to report, Region, Category, and Subcategory are
displayed. Subcategory does not inherit its parent’s subtotal (its parent being
Category). Subtotals are still applied at the level of Category, so subtotals are

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calculated for Region, the attribute to the left of Category. A portion of that
report is displayed below.

By default, the parent attribute is kept on the drilled-to report, so Category is

displayed in these examples. Return to the original, drilled-from report.
Specify that the parent is not kept when the report is drilled on. Drill from
Category to Subcategory. The resulting report displays Region and
Subcategory, with no subtotals. Because Category is no longer on the report,

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the across-level subtotals are no longer valid. A portion of the resulting

report is displayed below.

 For information about and examples of the Keep parent while

drilling option, see Keeping or removing the drilled-from attribute in
the new report, page 139.

Return to the original, drilled-from report. Specify that subtotals are

inherited from the parent. Drill from Category to Subcategory. The resulting
report displays Region and Subcategory, as with the previous report, but
subtotals are calculated for Region. Subtotals are inherited from the parent,
so the across-level subtotals are transferred to the Subcategory. Since Region

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is to the left of Subcategory, the report is subtotaled at that level. A portion of

that report is displayed below.

Return to the original, drilled-from report. Drill from Region to Call Center
this time, so that you are not drilling on the attribute that the across-level
subtotals are defined for. The resulting report displays Call Center and
Category. Subtotals are calculated for Call Center, because Call Center is now

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the attribute to the left of Category. A portion of the resulting report is shown
below.

 You can change this option for an entire report using MicroStrategy
Developer, as described in the procedure below. In Developer, you can
specify whether to show or hide subtotals while you are drilling, for
that specific drill action. For steps, see Changing drilling options
while drilling, page 130.

To show or hide subtotals when drilling from a report with across-level

subtotals

 This procedure assumes that the report already contains across-level

subtotals. For steps, see the MicroStrategy Developer Help (formerly
the MicroStrategy Desktop Help).

1 Open a grid report.

2 From the Data menu, select Report Data Options. The Report Data
Options dialog box opens.

3 Expand General, then select Drilling.

4 Specify whether or not the subtotals are displayed in the drilled-to report:

• To display subtotals in the drilled-to report, set Inherit across-level

subtotal from parent to Yes.

• To hide subtotals in the drilled-to report, set Inherit across-level

subtotal from parent to No.
Subtotals are still displayed unless Keep parent while drilling is set
to No and you drill from the object that is the level of the subtotal.

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• To use the value set in the drill path, set Inherit across-level subtotal
from parent to Default. For information about creating drill paths,
see the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

5 Click OK to save your changes and close the Report Data Options dialog
box.

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 5
5. ANSWERING PROMPTS AND
REFRESHING DATA

Introduction

Your analysis of data can only be as accurate as the results displayed in a

report. In many instances, you will want to have the most recent information
from your data source displayed on your reports. In this case, if you execute a
report multiple times, you probably want to be sure the query is submitted
through your data source each time so you know you are seeing results based
on the latest data available.

At other times, you simply need to see the same report you looked at before
— you do not care whether the data is up-to-the-minute. In this case,
MicroStrategy provides caching so you can retrieve report results as quickly
as possible without submitting the request through your data source again.

This chapter discusses report caches, as well as various methods of

refreshing a report’s data.

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Refreshing a report
As an analyst, you may find yourself regularly executing certain reports that
have provided useful information to you in the past. When you re-execute a
report, how do you know that the data that is returned reflects the most
recent data available in your data source? To answer this question, you must
consider a few factors:

• The frequency with which your data source is updated.

• Whether the report you are running is being executed through the data
source again, or whether it is pulling its data from a stored cache that was
created in MicroStrategy when the report was run the first time.

Your data source may be updated on a daily basis or only biweekly. It is a

good idea to familiarize yourself with the frequency and the days or times
when your data source receives updates. This information helps you
determine when it is most desirable to re-execute your most commonly run
reports, if it is important for you to see report results that reflect the latest
data.

To take advantage of recently updated data in your data storage, you must
refresh the data displayed on the report. To effectively refresh data on a
report, you should take a moment to understand your data sources.

Understanding your data sources

With MicroStrategy, you can report on and analyze your organization’s data
with the goal of answering your business questions. MicroStrategy makes
sense of the large amounts of data stored in your data source and returns
report results which reflect that data. A data source can be a data warehouse,
a simple text file, a Microsoft Excel file, or an external data source such as
SAP-BW, Microsoft Analysis Services, or Hyperion Essbase.

No matter which type of data source your organization uses, data sources are
commonly separated into specific business divisions. For example, you might
have a data source that only holds information related to your supply chain
data, storing all data related to monitoring the efficiency of your business
workflow. Your organization might also have a separate data source to store
all human resources data such as employee headcount, employee turnover,
and so on.

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It is important to know which data source(s) you are regularly accessing

when you execute reports. By knowing which data sources are providing you
with your report data, you can learn how frequently they are updated with
new data. This information in turn can help you decide how often you need
to re-execute certain reports, making sure that the report query is submitted
through your data source rather than through a stored report cache in
MicroStrategy.

Refreshing the data displayed on a report

There are several ways that data shown on a report can be refreshed so that
the report reflects the latest values in the data source.

• Prompted report: A report analyst can automatically refresh the data on

a prompted report by answering the prompts differently than they have
been answered during any previous execution of the report. Answering
prompted reports is discussed in this chapter, in Answering report
prompts, page 173.

• Report cache: A cache is the stored results of a report query that has
already been executed. When the report is executed again, the system can
quickly access the cache to display report data, rather than putting a load
on the system to re-run the request to the data source. Caches are
discussed in more detail below, including information on how to
determine whether a report’s results came from a cache or not. The
following methods can be implemented to ensure refreshed data is
accessible when a report is re-executed:

Delete a report’s cache: A system administrator can delete a report’s
cache to ensure the data on that report is refreshed the next time it is
executed. If the stored cache is deleted, the system is forced to submit
the request through the data source again, thus gathering the most
recent data.
 Disable caching for a report: A system administrator can disable
caching for a specific report, so that a cache of results is never created
in the system when that report is executed. In this way, every time the
report is re-executed, the query goes through your data source and
thus returns the most recent data.

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Report caches
A report cache is a special data store within MicroStrategy software that
holds information that was recently requested from the data source to be
displayed on a report. A cache is created when a report is executed for the
first time and the request is submitted to the database to gather the latest
data. The report’s results are then cached, or stored, in MicroStrategy.

Generally, frequently requested reports are cached because future requests

for the same reports return data faster if the report has been cached. The
execution time is quicker because cached reports do not need to run against
the data source. In a cache, results from your data source are stored and can
be used by new job requests that require the same data.

Caching is a useful strategy your administrator can use to reduce demands

on your database and improve the speed of MicroStrategy’s reporting
performance. However, cached data is not always the most up-to-date,
because it has not been run through your data source since the cache was
created.

You can get new data for a report that has been cached, by deleting the
report’s cache before you execute the report. (There are other ways to refresh
data on a report, which are discussed in this chapter.) Deleting the report’s
cache forces the report to be executed through your data source again, thus
returning the most recent data from your data source. You must have
administrative privileges to delete a report cache.

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You can see whether the results on a report have come from a MicroStrategy
cache in two ways:

• Look at the Report Details for the report. To do this, open a report and,
from the View menu, select Report Details. An example image of the
Report Details pane and its related report is shown below:

In the Report Details pane above, the last line shows whether the cache
was used to populate the report with data. For this report, the answer is
Cache Used: No.

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• Look at a report in SQL view. To do this, from the View menu select SQL
View. As shown in the image below, for this report the 5th line says
Cache Used: Yes.

Cached data and OLAP Services

MicroStrategy OLAP Services lets MicroStrategy Developer, Web, and Office

users make use of features that slice and dice data in reports to create new
reports, without re-executing SQL against the data source. These reports are
called view reports. This improves performance by resulting in quicker data
display within a report as users analyze and manipulate the data. OLAP
Services view reports are populated from the original report’s cache rather
than being run against the data source.

The Report Objects pane is an OLAP Services feature that lets users create
mini-reports based on an original report, by dragging objects on and off the
report. When report objects are dragged to or from the Report Objects pane,
the report results are recalculated based on the cached data rather than being
submitted through the data source again.

To determine whether you have OLAP Services, and for details on other
OLAP Services features, see OLAP Services, page 15.

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Answering report 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.

There are several types of prompts. The following image shows one example
of a prompt that appears when a prompted report is executed. You choose
one or more answers from the center pane, in this case months of a given
year for which you want to see data. You move your selection(s) to the right,
then you finish running the report to see your chosen data displayed.

How to answer a prompt

Some prompts require an answer. Some prompts are optional. Some

prompts do not allow more than one answer. Some prompts have a default
answer that is used unless you replace it with a different answer. Some
prompts have a personal answer, which is an answer that you saved earlier
from the same prompt and are re-using here. If a prompt allows you to

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provide more than one answer, you can keep the default answer or the
personal answer, and then add other answers, to include more data on the
resulting report.

No matter which of the options above are included in the prompt by the
prompt’s creator, the following guideline is generally true for any single
prompt: The more answers you provide to a prompt, the more data is
displayed in the resulting report.

The mechanics of answering a prompt differ depending on the type of

prompt you are answering. Prompts can be divided into the following
groups, based on what is required to answer them:

• Prompts that request you to select items from a list, to define the data you
want to see on the report.

For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types of

prompts include Attribute Element prompts and Object prompts.

To answer prompts by selecting from a list, see To answer a prompt by

selecting answers from a list, page 175.

• Prompts that request you to type in specific values or text to search for,
such as a specific date, a number, or a word.

For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types of

prompts are called value prompts, and include Date prompts, Numeric
prompts, Text prompts, Long prompts, and Big Decimal prompts.

To answer prompts by typing text or values, see To answer a prompt by

typing a specific value, page 177.
• Prompts that request you to form a more complex statement of the data
you want to see displayed on the report. When you define a statement,
you are creating a filter for the report. This group of prompts can be
divided into two subsets:
 Prompts for which you create a filter based on an attribute (a business
concept).

For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types of

prompts include Hierarchy prompts and Attribute prompts.

To answer prompts by creating a filter based on an attribute, see To

answer a prompt by defining a filter based on an attribute, page 179.

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
Prompts for which you create a filter based on a metric (a calculation
of business data).

For those with a wider knowledge of prompt design, these types of

prompts are metric qualification prompts.

To answer prompts by creating a filter based on a metric, see To

answer a prompt by defining a filter based on a metric calculation,
page 183.

Use the appropriate procedure below, depending on the requirements of the

prompt you are presented with. If the prompt allows personal answers, you
can save your prompt answer as a personal answer. For steps, see To save a
personal answer, page 185.

To answer a prompt by selecting answers from a list

Use the following procedure to answer prompts for which you select answers
from a list, which include the following:

• A prompt where you select attribute elements from the center pane,
similar to the image below. Elements of an attribute are the values of an
attribute. For example, 2011 and 2012 are elements of the Year attribute,
while New York and London are elements of the City attribute. (The
image below shows an Attribute Element prompt.)

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• A prompt where you select attributes from the center pane, similar to the
image below. (This is an Object prompt.)

1 Execute a report that has prompts. For steps to execute a report, see
Opening a report, page 5.

2 Provide one or more answers by selecting one or more items from the
center pane and clicking the arrow > to move them to the right.
Depending on how the prompt was designed, the following scenarios may
also apply:

• The prompt may already have a default answer. You can keep it, add
other answers to it, or remove it from the list of answers by clicking <.

• The prompt may already have a personal answer, indicated by a

selected Remember this answer check box. You can keep the
personal answer, add other answers to it, or remove it from the list of
answers by clicking <.
• The prompt may already have saved personal answers, indicated by
the Edit answers button. To use a saved personal answer, select it
from the drop-down list near the Edit answers button. You can then
add other answers to it, as needed.

• If the prompt allows personal answers, you can save your prompt
answer as a personal answer. See To save a personal answer,
page 185 for steps.

• The prompt may not require an answer. This information appears at

the top of the prompt window, listed as either Required or Optional.

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• The prompt may require a certain number of answers. This

information appears at the top of the prompt window, listed as
Maximum qualifications.

The answers you select will be used to filter the data that is returned on
the report.

3 Click Next.

4 If there are additional prompts on the report, use the appropriate steps in
this chapter to answer them. Otherwise, review the summary of your
answers and click Finish. The report is executed and your results are
displayed.

5 If you want to see how your prompt answers were used to create the
report’s filter, from the View menu select Report Details. Your prompt
answers appear in the Report Details window, in the form of report
filtering conditions. You can also see whether a cache was used to supply
the results. If a cache was not used, the results reflect the latest data in
your data source.

 Toanswer
see data filtered in a different way, click the Reprompt icon and
the prompt again to create a different filter for the report
results.

To answer a prompt by typing a specific value

Use the following procedure to answer prompts for which you type in a
specific value such as a date or number. These prompts include the
following:

• A prompt where you type a specific value, such as a date, a number, or

text, similar to the image below. (These prompts include Date prompts,

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Numeric prompts, Text prompts, Long prompts, and Big Decimal

prompts.)

 This procedure assumes you have executed a report that has prompts
and are therefore presented with a prompt. For steps to execute a
report, see Opening a report, page 5 in Chapter 1, Getting Started
with MicroStrategy Reporting.

1 Type an answer in the field provided. You must type the form of answer
the prompt is expecting, as follows:

• Date prompt: Enter a date value, such as 8/14/2008.

• Numeric prompt: Enter integers or decimals up to 15 digits.

• Text prompt: Enter alphabetic characters that form any type of text
string, such as a word or phrase.
• Big Decimal prompt: Enter integers and decimals up to 38 digits.

• Long prompt: Enter integer numbers up to 10 digits.

2 If the prompt has a personal answer, the Remember this answer check
box is selected. You can keep the personal answer, add other answers to
it, or remove it from the list of answers by clicking <.

3 If the prompt has saved personal answers, the Edit answers button is
available. To use a saved personal answer, select it from the drop-down
list near the Edit answers button. You can then add other answers to it,
as needed.

4 If the prompt allows personal answers, you can save your prompt answer
as a personal answer. See To save a personal answer, page 185 for steps.

5 Click Next.

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6 If there are additional prompts on the report, use the appropriate steps to
answer them. (All prompts on the report are listed in the far left pane.)
Otherwise, review the summary of your answers and click Finish. The
report is executed and your results are displayed.

7 If you want to see how your prompt answers were used to create the
report’s filter, from the View menu select Report Details. Your prompt
answers appear in the Report Details window, in the form of report
filtering conditions. You can also see whether a cache was used to supply
the results. If a cache was not used, the results reflect the latest data in
your data source.

 IfReprompt
you want to see data filtered in a different way, click the
icon and answer the prompt again to create a different
filter for the report results. If you clear the default answer for a
value prompt and then reprompt the report, the default answer is
displayed again.

To answer a prompt by defining a filter based on an attribute

Use this procedure to answer prompts for which you define your filtering
conditions based on an attribute. These types of prompts include the
following:

• A prompt where you select a hierarchy from the drop-down list above the
center pane, and then drag an attribute or double-click in the pane on the
right to create a filter for an attribute. This prompt is similar to the image
below. (This is a Hierarchy prompt.)

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• A prompt where you double-click in the pane on the right to create a filter
for an attribute, similar to the image below. (This is an Attribute prompt.)

1 Execute a report that has prompts. For steps to execute a report, see
Opening a report, page 5.

2 If the prompt has a default answer, shown in the Definition pane on the
right, you can keep it and click Next, or keep it and add other answers to
it.

• You can remove a default answer by right-clicking it, selecting

Remove, and then clicking Yes.

3 If the prompt has a personal answer, the Remember this answer check
box is selected. You can keep it, add other answers to it, or remove it from
the list of answers by clicking <.

4 If the prompt has saved personal answers, the Edit answers button is
available. To use a saved personal answer, select it from the drop-down
list near the Edit answers button. You can then add other answers to it,
as needed.

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5 You can add your own answer to the prompt by double-clicking in the
Definition pane on the right. The Attribute Qualification pane opens, as
shown in the image below:

6 Create your filter by selecting options for each of the following:

a Next to Attribute, browse to select the attribute that has the elements
you want to see data for. Depending on the type of prompt you are
answering, this field may not be available for selection.

b From the Qualify On drop-down list, select whether you want to filter
data based on:

Elements: These are the individual elements of the attribute listed
at the top of the Attribute Qualification pane. For example, if the
attribute is Year, elements might include 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
and so on. If you want to filter data based on specific attribute
elements, select Elements.

ID form: Each attribute element has a specific ID assigned to it. If
you know the ID or range of IDs you want to filter data for, select
ID.
 Description form: Most attribute elements have a description
provided for them. If you want to filter data based on descriptions,
select Description.

Other forms: There may be other forms to choose from, depending
on the attribute and on your project.

c From the Operator list, select the operator that will help you define
your filter. For example, you might choose the Greater Than operator

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to filter out data that is below a certain number. For more details on
operators, see Joining filter qualifications with operators, page 282.

d Depending on what you chose to qualify on above, perform one of the

following:

Element List: Click Add and select the attribute elements for
which you want to filter data.
 ID Value: Type the ID number(s) for which you want to filter data.
 Date Value: Click the Calendar icon to select the exact date or
range of dates for which you want to filter data.

7 If the prompt allows personal answers, you can save your prompt answer
as a personal answer. See To save a personal answer, page 185 for steps.

8 When you are finished defining your filter, click Next.

9 If there are additional prompts on the report, use the appropriate steps to
answer them. Otherwise, review the summary of your answers and click
Finish. The report is executed and your results are displayed.

10 If you want to see how your prompt answers were used in the report’s
filter, from the View menu select Report Details. Your prompt answers
appear in the Report Details window, in the form of report filtering
conditions. You can also see whether a cache was used to supply the
results. If a cache was not used, the results reflect the latest data in your
data source.

 IfReprompt
you want to see data filtered in a different way, click the
icon and answer the prompt again to create a different
filter for the report results.

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To answer a prompt by defining a filter based on a metric calculation

Use this procedure to answer prompts for which you define your filtering
conditions based on a metric, which include the following:

• A prompt where you double-click in the pane on the right to create a filter
for a metric, similar to the image below. (This is a Metric prompt.)

1 Execute a report that has prompts. For steps to execute a report, see
Opening a report, page 5.

2 If the prompt has a default answer, shown in the Definition pane on the
right, you can keep it and click Next, or keep it and add other answers to
it.
• You can also remove a default answer by right-clicking it, selecting
Remove, and then clicking Yes.

3 If the prompt has a personal answer, the Remember this answer check
box is selected. You can keep the personal answer, add other answers to
it, or remove it from the list of answers by clicking <.

4 If the prompt has saved personal answers, the Edit answers button is
available. To use a saved personal answer, select it from the drop-down
list near the Edit answers button. You can then add other answers to it,
as needed.

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5 You can add your own answer to the prompt by double-clicking in the
Definition pane on the right. The Set Qualification pane opens, as shown
below:

6 Create your filter by performing each of the following:

a If you want to select an output level, click ... (the browse button) next
to the Output Level field to select a level. The output level is the level
at which the metric results are calculated. The default is the metric’s
level. (Levels are described in How data is aggregated on a report:
metric level, page 118. Output levels are discussed in detail in the
Advanced Filters chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.)

b Depending on how the prompt’s creator designed the prompt, you

may be able to select the metric on which you want to base your filter.
Use one of the following methods:

Type the name of the metric in the Metric field and click OK.

Click ... (the browse button) to locate the metric. In the Open
dialog box, navigate to the folder that contains the metric, select
the metric, and click OK.

c From the Function drop-down list, select the part of the metric that
will be filtered on: Metric Value, Rank, or Percent.

d From the Operator drop-down list, select a logical operator. For

example, you might choose the Greater Than operator to filter out
data that is below a certain number. For more details on operators,
see Joining filter qualifications with operators, page 282.

e Beside the Value field, enter the value to complete your chosen
operator. For example, if you chose the Greater Than operator above,
you must enter the value which data should be greater than, to be
returned on the report.

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f Click OK to close the Set Qualification pane.

7 If the prompt allows personal answers, you can save your prompt answer
as a personal answer. See To save a personal answer, page 185 for steps.

8 When you are finished defining your filter, click Next.

9 If there are additional prompts on the report, use the appropriate steps to
answer them. Otherwise, review the summary of your answers and click
Finish. The report is executed and your results are displayed.

10 If you want to see how your prompt answers are used in the report’s filter,
from the View menu select Report Details. Your prompt answers appear
in the Report Details window, in the form of report filtering conditions.
You can also see whether a cache was used to supply the results. If a cache
was not used, the results reflect the latest data in your data source.

 IfReprompt
you want to see data filtered in a different way, click the
icon and answer the prompt again to create a different
filter for the report results.

Saving and re-using prompt answers: Personal answers

When you are answering prompts in a report, you can save a prompt answer
independently of the report. Once saved, a prompt answer is called a
personal answer. The personal answer can be used when you re-execute the
report, and also for any other report that uses the same prompt.

The steps below assume that you have already selected a prompt answer, but
have not yet clicked Finish or Run Report.

To save a personal answer

Use this procedure to save the prompt answer as a personal answer.

1 Determine whether the prompt lets you save prompt answers as personal
answers. You can tell whether a prompt will let you save a personal
answer if the Remember this answer check box (for a single personal
answer) or the Save this answer check box (for multiple personal
answers) is displayed.

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2 If the Remember this answer check box is displayed, only one prompt
answer (which can contain multiple items or qualifications) can be saved.

• To save the personal answer, select the Remember this answer check
box. The items that you selected are saved as the personal answer for
this prompt. They are displayed, to be used again if you choose, when
you re-execute this report and also for any other report that uses this
prompt.

3 If the Save this answer check box is displayed, you can save and name
multiple personal answers.

a To save the personal answer, select the Save this answer check box.

b Type a name in the Name field. Create a descriptive name that will
remind you of the details when you see it at a later date.

c You can set this personal answer as the default, so that it displays
when you are presented with this prompt again, either on this report
or another.

 You do not have to save the report to save a personal answer; the
personal answer is saved automatically when one of the check boxes
above is selected.

Saving reports with prompts

When you save a prompted report after having executed it, you are presented
with special save options that give you several ways to save your prompted
report.

You can save your answers with the report. When you run the report in the
future, you are not prompted again. (This is called saving the prompted
report as static.) The prompt answers that you selected when you ran the
report are saved to the report definition, and that definition is used every
time the report is run in the future.

You can also save the report so that it prompts you or other users again,
when the report is re-executed. You continue to be prompted every time you
run the report in the future. (This is called saving the prompted report as
prompted.) If you want, you can also have your current prompt answers
become the new default prompt answers when the report is run again. This
can speed up report execution, because you can save your own preferred
answers as the defaults, and then each time you re-run the report, when you
are prompted you can simply click Finish to accept all the default answers.

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All of these choices are described in the procedures below. Use the
appropriate procedure, depending on whether you are using MicroStrategy
Developer or MicroStrategy Web:

• To save a prompted report in Developer, page 187

• To save a prompted report in MicroStrategy Web, page 188

To save a prompted report in Developer

1 Open a prompted report.

2 Answer the prompts and execute the report. For steps to answer a
prompt, see Answering report prompts, page 173.

3 From the Home menu, select Save As. Navigate to where you want to
save the report, and provide a name for the report.

4 Click Save. The Save Options dialog box opens.

5 Select whether you want to save the report as static or prompted:

• Static: The report is saved with the currently displayed report and
filter information. When you execute the report in the future, you are
not prompted again.

• Prompted: The report is saved with active prompts. The next time
that you run the report, the report prompts you for answers again.

6 If you select prompted, you can choose whether or not to use the current
prompt answers as the default prompt answers when you run the report
again, as described below:
• To save the current prompt answers as the default prompt answers,
select the Set the current prompt answers to be the default
prompt answers check box. When you run the report again, you will
be prompted, and you can choose to use the default answers or change
them.

• To use the default prompt answers defined in the prompt, clear the
Set the current prompt answers to be the default prompt
answers check box. When you run the report again, you will be
prompted, and you can choose to use the displayed default answers or
change them. If default prompt answers have not been defined in the
prompt, no default answers are displayed.

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7 If you select the Remember options next time check box, your
selections above (in this Save Options dialog box) become the default
method for saving all prompted reports when you save prompted reports
in the future.

8 Click OK. Your selections are applied to the report and it is saved.

To save a prompted report in MicroStrategy Web

1 Open a prompted report.

2 Answer the prompts and execute the report.

3 From the File menu, select Save As. Navigate to where you want to save
the report, and provide a name for the report.

4 You can choose to save the report as a prompted or a static report:

• To save it as a prompted report, select the Keep report prompted

check box. The report is saved with active prompts. When you execute
the report in the future, you are prompted for answers again.

• To save it as a static report, clear the Keep report prompted check

box. The report is saved with the currently displayed report and filter
information. When you execute the report in the future, you are not
prompted again.

5 If you save it as a prompted report, you can choose whether or not to use
the current prompt answers as the default prompt answers when you run
the report again, as described below:

• To save the current prompt answers as the default prompt answers,

click Advanced Options. Select the Set the current prompt
answers to be the default prompt answers check box. When you
run the report again, the prompt answers that you selected are
displayed as the default prompt answers. You can choose to use the
default answers or change them.

• To use the default prompt answers defined in the prompt, click

Advanced Options. Clear the Set the current prompt answers to
be the default prompt answers check box. The prompt answers that
you selected are not saved with the report. When you run the report
again, the default prompt answers defined in the prompt are
displayed. You can choose to use the default answers or change them.

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If default prompt answers have not been defined in the prompt, no

default answers are displayed.

6 Click OK. Your selections are saved.

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 6
6. BUILDING A QUICK QUERY
FOR ANALYSIS
Using Report Builder

Introduction

This chapter shows analysts and report designers how to create a simple
business report. Before you create a report, you must have a business query
in mind for that report to answer. You must also have access to various
report objects that have already been created, so you can place them on the
report and provide that report with the information it needs to gather the
right data from your data source. You can use report objects that have
already been created by your company’s project designers and report
designers.

Prerequisites
Make sure you review the following prerequisites before you create a report
in MicroStrategy. They can save you time and make your report results more
effective, thus making data analysis much easier.

• Define your business query: Before you can determine what objects to
place on a new report, you need to know what data you want to see
displayed on a report. MicroStrategy reports answer business questions

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that can be answered with the help of the data stored in your data source.
To define your business question, make sure you consider the following
questions:

What is the main topic area the report needs to address? In other
words, at a general level, what do you need to know?
 What level of detail do you need? For example, do you want complete
details, or do you only want to see a few key measurements of
particular data? Key measurements can be useful for a business
meeting or high-level presentation.

• Look for existing reports: Before you create a report or document, search
through MicroStrategy to see whether a similar report already exists that
can serve the same purpose as the report you intend to create. This can
not only save you time, it can help you avoid unnecessary duplication in
your MicroStrategy project.

• Look for appropriate report objects: Do objects already exist in the

project which match what you want to see on a report? If not, a report
designer can create them.

The objects which you will use to create a report must already be created
in a MicroStrategy project. Report objects are generally created by the
project’s designer when the project is first created, and by report
designers.

• Understand how your MicroStrategy project reflects your data source:

Since you use objects to create reports, it can be useful for you to
understand how the project’s objects reflect the actual data in your
organization’s data source. In this way, you can choose objects to use on
reports with full knowledge of the data source tables that data is coming
from when the report is executed.

It is not necessary to have in-depth knowledge of your MicroStrategy

project’s design if you are creating quick reports for analysis, but if you desire
more details on project design and data modeling, see the MicroStrategy
Project Design Guide.

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Creating a report by combining a template and

a filter: Report Wizard
A report is a combination of a template and a filter:

• A report template is the structure that underlies any report. It specifies

the set of information that the report should retrieve from your data
source, and the way that you want the data to be displayed. For example,
a report template can contain the Region and Call Center attributes, and
the Revenue and Profit metrics. The Revenue metric is formatted to
display as currency, with no decimal. The attributes display in the rows
and the metrics in the columns.

• 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. For example, you might filter the Year attribute so that data is
only returned for the current year, or for the first three months of last
year.

The Report Wizard allows you to quickly and easily create a report by
selecting an existing template and filter.

To build a report using the Report Wizard

 This procedure assumes that a project designer has created a project

in MicroStrategy that reflects your organization’s stored data, and the
project contains templates and filters.

To start the Report Wizard

1 In MicroStrategy Web, log in to a project. To log in to a specific project,

see Starting MicroStrategy, page 2.

2 Click the MicroStrategy icon and select New Report.

3 Click Report Wizard. The Report Wizard opens.

To select the template

A report template is the structure that underlies any report, containing

what is to be displayed on the report and the way to display it.

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4 In the list of available templates on the left, navigate to and select the
template to use. Click the right arrow to move the selected template to the
list of selected templates on the right.

 You can search for a template, by typing the word to search for in
the Search for field and clicking the Search icon.

To select the filter

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

5 In the list of available filters on the left, navigate to and select the filter to
use. Click the right arrow to move the selected filter to the list of selected
filter on the right.

 You can search for a filter, by typing the word to search for in the
Search for field and clicking the Search icon.

To finish your new report

6 In the Report Message Name field, type a name for the new report.

7 Depending on your user privileges, do one of the following:

• Analysts: If you have Web Analyst privileges, you can run the report
or save it.

To run the report, click Run Report. If the filter contains a
prompt, the prompt is displayed for you to answer. (For steps to
answer a prompt, see Answering report prompts, page 173.) Your
report is executed against your data source and your results are
displayed.

To save the report, click Save. If the filter contains a prompt, the
prompt is displayed for you to answer. (For steps to answer a
prompt, see Answering report prompts, page 173.) The Save As
dialog box opens. Navigate to a project folder in which to save the
report, and click Save.

• Report Designers: If you have Web Professional privileges (or higher),

you can edit the report or save it.

To edit the report, click Edit in Design Mode. The report opens in
Design Mode within the Report Editor, where you can continue to
build the report with additional objects and user functionalities.
For information on using the Report Editor, adding or creating
additional objects, and adding user functionalities, see Chapter 7,
Building Query Objects and Queries, for Designers.

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
To save the report, click Save. The Save As dialog box opens.
Navigate to a project folder in which to save the report, and click
Save.

Quick report creation: Building a new report

This chapter provides steps to create a new report using the MicroStrategy
Report Builder tool. The Report Builder is meant for users who are already
familiar with MicroStrategy objects that are used to create a report, and who
need to create a report quickly. However, the Report Builder tool limits you
to only adding certain objects to the report while you are using the tool. Once
you finish creating a report in Report Builder, you can continue to modify the
report in the Report Editor and add additional objects.

If you have Web Professional privileges, before you create a report, you can
create links, or shortcuts, to objects that you will want to use regularly. You
can place the shortcuts in a location within the project that is conveniently
accessible to you. For steps to create shortcuts to objects, see Quick object
access: Creating shortcuts to objects, page 214.

Creating a report for analysis

This section describes how to create a report using the quick report creation
tool called Report Builder. MicroStrategy’s Report Builder steps you easily
through the process of quick report creation, and lets you access a wide
variety of report objects in your project to define your report.

Report Builder asks for four specific pieces of information from you:

• The attributes to include on the report

• The metrics to include on the report

• Information to create a filter for one or more attributes; the filter is

optional
• Information to create a filter for one or more metrics; the filter is optional

Each of these pieces of information is described more fully, with examples, in

the procedure below.

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Creating a quick report using Report Builder

To create a report that accurately answers a specific business query, be sure

you have access to objects that have already been created, as described above
in Prerequisites, page 191.

To build a quick report using Report Builder

 This procedure assumes that a project designer has created a project

in MicroStrategy that reflects your organization’s stored data, and the
project contains attributes and metrics.

To start Report Builder

1 In MicroStrategy Web, log in to the project that contains the objects you
want to use to create a report. To log in to a specific project, see Starting
MicroStrategy, page 2.

2 Click the MicroStrategy icon and select New Report.

3 Click Report Builder. The Report Builder template opens.

The Report Builder steps on the left pane allow you to easily navigate
between different sections of the Report Builder.

To include attributes on the report

Attributes are the business concepts reflected in your stored business

data in your data source. Attributes provide a context in which to report
and analyze business data. While knowing your company’s total sales is
useful, knowing where and when the sales took place is more helpful.

For example, you have a report containing the Month, Year, and Region
attributes, as well as a Revenue metric. When executed, the report
displays your company’s revenue for each region, during each month and
year for which data is available. Because of the attributes on the report, a
substantial amount of information is available, including which regions
produced the least revenue and which years saw the highest growth in
revenue.

4 Under Choose the attributes of the report, in the Search for field, type
the name of the attribute. Alternatively, from the Available pane, browse
to the attribute that you want to include on your report.

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5 Select one or more attributes and click the Add arrow to move them to
the Selected pane.

 Note the following:

– You must select at least one attribute.

– Generally, one to three attributes are sufficient to add to a

report, depending on the business query you are trying to
answer with the report.

– If you add more than one attribute to the report, make sure you
select attributes that make sense when placed together on a
report.

When you are finished adding attributes, add the metrics for your report
under Choose the metrics of the report.

To include metrics on the report

Metrics are MicroStrategy objects that represent business measures.

Metrics are the calculations performed on data stored in your database,
the results of which are displayed on a report. Metrics are similar to
formulas in spreadsheet software.

Questions such as “What were the sales for the eastern region during the
fourth quarter?” or “Are inventory levels being consistently replenished
at the beginning of each week?” can easily be answered by metrics. A
metric is made up of facts stored in your data source and the
mathematical operations to be performed on those facts, so that
meaningful business analysis can be performed on the results.

6 Under Choose the metrics of the report, in the Search for field, type
the name of the metric. Alternatively, from the Available pane, browse to
the metrics you want to include on your report.

7 Select one or more metrics and click the Add arrow to move them to the
Selected pane.

 Generally, one or two metrics is sufficient to add to the report,

depending on the business query you are trying to answer with the
report.

When you are finished adding metrics, you can add filtering conditions to
your attributes under Qualify on any attribute.

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To include an attribute filter on the report

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. For example, you might filter the Year attribute so that data is
only returned for the current year, or for the first three months of last
year.

An attribute filter restricts data specifically for the attributes on, or

related to, your report. You only need to include an attribute filter if it
makes sense with your business query.

 Ifsubtask
you do not want to include an attribute filter, proceed to the next
in this procedure, To include a metric filter on the report,
page 199. However, most reports use a filter to limit the quantity
of data returned from the data source, and to help focus the report
on a specific business question.

8 Under Qualify on any attribute, navigate through the hierarchies

displayed in the Available pane. Alternatively, type the name of the
hierarchy in the Search for field.

• Hierarchies group all the attributes in your project into logical

subsets. For example, the Day, Week, Month, and Year attributes
might all be grouped into a Time hierarchy.

9 Double-click the hierarchy that holds the attribute you want to filter data
for. The attributes within that hierarchy are displayed in the Available
pane.

10 Select the attribute you want to use a filter on, and then click the Add
arrow to move it to the Selected pane.

 Itreport,
is generally simplest to select an attribute that is part of your
unless you need an attribute filter that relies on a different
attribute.

11 For each attribute moved to the Selected pane, select one of the following
options, depending on how you want to filter the attribute data:

• Return results that only show data related to specific elements of the
attribute. For example, the attribute Customer might have the
elements John Smith, Jane Doe, William Hill, and so on. You can
filter data to display a list of only those customers (those elements)
that you specify.
To create this kind of filter, from the filter’s expression, first choose
Select and then choose the In List operator. Click Empty to display

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the attribute’s elements. Then, select the elements on the left and click
the arrow to move them to the right. Click OK.

• Return results that show all the attribute’s data EXCEPT for the
specific elements you define. Using the example in the bullet above,
you might specify certain customers whose data you do not want to
see.

To create this kind of filter, from the filter’s expression, first choose
Select and then choose the Not In List operator. Click Empty to
display the attribute’s elements. Then, select the elements on the left
and click the arrow to move them to the right. Click OK.

• Experiment with other options to create the exact filter you want. For
guidance:

Click Help. Details on every combination of choices is available,
along with links to steps for creating more complex filters.
 Attribute qualifications are discussed in detail in this manual, in
Filtering data based on business attributes: Attribute
qualifications, page 255.

When you are finished defining your attribute filter, you can add filtering
conditions for your metrics in the report under Qualify on any metric.

To include a metric filter on the report

A metric filter screens data based on a metric’s value or rank. For

example, you might create a filter that displays sales data for only those
products with an inventory count below a specified number.
You only need to include a metric filter if it makes sense with your
business query.

 Ifsubtask
you do not want to include a metric filter, proceed to the next
in this procedure, To finish your report, page 200.

12 Under Qualify on any metric, in the Available pane, select the metric on
which you want to use a filter. Alternatively, type the name of the metric
in the Search for field.

13 Click the Add arrow to move the metric to the Selected pane.

 Itunless
is generally simplest to select a metric that is part of your report,
you need a metric filter that relies on a different metric.

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14 For each metric moved to the Selected pane, select one of the following
options, depending on how you want to filter the metric data:

• Return results that show all data greater than a specific amount.

To create this kind of filter, from the filter’s expression, select the
Greater than operator. Click Value and in the Enter Value field, enter
the number that all calculated values should be greater than.

• Return results that show data that is outside a particular range of

values.

To create this kind of filter, from the filter’s expression, select the Not
Between operator. Click the first Value and in the Enter Value field,
enter the number that marks the lower end of the range. Click the
second Value and in the Enter Value field, enter the number that
marks the higher end of the range.

• Click the Operator drop-down list to see the many other common
operators you can define your filter with. Experiment with other
options to create the exact filter you want. For guidance:

Click Help. Details on every combination of choices is available,
along with links to steps for creating more complex filters.

Metric qualifications are discussed in detail in Filtering data
based on attribute relationships or metrics: Set qualifications,
page 270.

To finish your report

15 Review your selections for the report and make changes, if required.

16 Type a name for the report in the Report Message Name field.

17 Prior to saving the report, you can choose to view the report results and
verify your report selections.
• Web Analyst: If you have Web Analyst privileges, click Run Report.
Your report is executed against your data source and your results are
displayed.

• Web Professional: If you have Web Professional privileges (or higher),

click Edit in Design Mode. The report opens in Design Mode in the
Report Editor, where you can continue to build the report with
additional objects and user functionalities.
 To execute the report without making any further changes, from
the toolbar select Run Report.

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
For information on using the Report Editor, adding or creating
additional objects, and adding user functionalities, see
MicroStrategy Web Report Editor interface, page 432.

18 To save your new report, click Save. Navigate to a project folder in which
you want to save the report, and click OK.

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 7
7. BUILDING QUERY OBJECTS
AND QUERIES, FOR
DESIGNERS

Introduction

This chapter introduces the basics of designing and creating business

reports. Before you create a report, you must have a business query in mind
for that report to answer. You must also have access to various report objects
that have already been created, so you can place them on the report and
provide that report with its definition. If you have the appropriate privileges,
you can create report objects yourself, or you can use report objects that have
been created by other report designers.

This chapter also shows you how to add user-friendly additions to a report,
such as a drilling map or other capabilities.

Most of the tasks in this chapter are performed in MicroStrategy Web. Some
are performed in MicroStrategy Developer, and are clearly labeled.

 This chapter assumes you are familiar with all the other chapters in
this guide. The other chapters contain introductory information on
the user experience with basic functionality in the MicroStrategy
environment.

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 7 Building Query Objects and Queries, for Designers Basic Reporting Guide

Before you begin

Report designer role

This chapter primarily discusses software functionality that is only available
to users who have privileges equivalent to Developer or Web Professional
roles in MicroStrategy (or a broader set of privileges, such as those provided
to the Administrator role). If you are not sure which privileges are assigned
to your user name in the MicroStrategy environment, contact your system
administrator.

Report designers design a reporting context or environment in which report

analysts can successfully analyze business data. This environment allows
report analysts to work within defined limits, ensuring that business data can
be easily and quickly analyzed, as well as making sure that only reasonable
queries are submitted to the database. Reasonable means that irrelevant data
sets cannot be created, nor can huge amounts of data be retrieved from your
data source, which can hamper system performance.

These roles allow a defined group of report designers to be trained on more

advanced report functionality, while report analysts can manipulate reports
without needing to understand the details of creating reports. Report
analysts are not required to have a thorough understanding of the project.
These users can analyze data, generate new reports from existing reports
through drilling, and create quick and easy reports using Report Builder,
which can all be performed in a controlled, user-friendly environment.

For example, a report designer might design a report for the sales
department that displays data on the organization’s annual regional revenue,
including product brands. The report designer places the attributes
Customer Region, Category, and Brand on the report, and the metrics Profit,
Revenue, and Revenue Rank by Region. (To view this actual report, see the
Brand Performance by Region report in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project.)
A report analyst can then execute this report and drill to see details about
revenue and profits for only the states in the Northeast region. Another
report analyst can execute the same report, drill on a different object on the
report, such as the brand Son, and view revenue and profits for a single item
in the product line that concerns him.

There are numerous ways to design reports, each one giving users a slightly
different data analysis experience. For example, you can design reports that
prompt users for an answer about the type of data they want to view, before
the report is run. Each user then sees report results specific to how he

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answered the prompts. A prompted report might allow users to select from
certain attribute elements to create their own personalized version of the
report. (Elements of an attribute are the values of an attribute. For example,
2011 and 2012 are elements of the Year attribute, while New York and
London are elements of the City attribute.)

A report designer can also add to a report a selection of extra functionality

for users. For example, drill maps define specific paths for users to navigate
through the data. Drilling is a report manipulation method through which
the user requests additional information that is directly related to the
information available in the current report. After running a report, you can
allow users to drill to various levels on the report. For example, with a drill
map in the Brand Performance by Region report discussed above, a report
analyst might drill from the regional level down to the State level, then down
to the City level, then drill further down to view data for individual
customers. Each drilling displays a new report.

Each of these report design methods is described in this chapter:

• For information on creating prompts and adding them to a report, see

Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296.

• For information on drilling, see Drilling into related data, page 119 in
Chapter 3, Analyzing Data.

• For information on drill maps, see Enabling drilling and customizing

drill maps, page 401.

• For information on creating metrics, see Calculating data on a report:

Metrics, page 217.
• For information on creating a report, see Creating a grid report,
page 351.

Developing a business query and report design: Best practices

Before you create a report, you need to gather information from your user
community, your project designer, your database administrator, and your
MicroStrategy software. Some best practices are described here.

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Gather information about your user audience

Ask yourself who the audience is for the report you plan to create. Questions
you should have answers to include:

• What is the main topic area the report needs to address? In other words,
at a general level, what do users need to know?

• What level of detail do users need? For example, sometimes executive

level users only want to see a few key metrics of certain data. Other
analysts may need to see very detailed financial numbers or inventory
counts.

• What types of reports do users expect?


Higher level executives sometimes have expectations on how data is
displayed in a report, so it can be helpful to ask what types of reports
they are used to receiving, and whether it is important to try to adhere
to that data display style.

For all user communities, determine whether they are willing to learn
a new report format or whether it will be easier for them to receive
reports in a style they have become used to. For example, some users
adopt MicroStrategy so they can read spreadsheets of data more
easily. A standard MicroStrategy grid report can be a good style to
start with when introducing spreadsheet users to MicroStrategy
reports.

• Who makes up your universe of users?


If your universe of users is extremely diverse, consider making reports
as flexible as possible for each user who executes them, by adding
prompts to the report. A prompt asks users questions about the
results they want to see on a report, and then submits the appropriate
report query to the data source. For details on prompts, see Asking for
user input: Prompts, page 296.
 Your universe of users may include different security requirements.
For example, you may need a single report for a group of users, but
that group includes both external and internal users, and you want to
restrict some data from external view. You must confirm that
appropriate security is in place for a report’s underlying objects, and
that security filters are in place to control row-level access to data.
Object-level security is performed using ACLs, or access control lists.

Security filters and ACLs are generally implemented by your system

administrator, but one or both may be under the control of your

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project designer. See the MicroStrategy System Administration

Guide for details on security filters, ACLs, and other security features.

Gather information about your data source

If you need an introduction to or refresher on data sources, review

Understanding your data sources, page 168.

Make sure the data your organization stores can support the information
your users want to analyze in a reporting environment. Questions you should
ask include:

• Does your organization gather the data that users want to see reports on?

• Is your data organized in such a way that it can be used? Is the data
reliable, and is it clean? One way to check on the reliability of your data is
to create some simple grid reports designed to validate whether your data
reflects your understanding of reality.

For example, if you have a good sense of how many customers own two or
three of your organization’s products, create a report that shows basic
data on the count of customers who purchased those specific products
over the past few years. If the numbers you see in the report do not come
close to what you expected to see, it is worthwhile to spend some time
with your database administrator to address the reliability of the data
stored in your data source.

Gather information about your MicroStrategy project

Many of the objects within a project are generally created by the project’s
designer when the project is first created. Since you use these objects to
design reports, it can be useful to understand your project’s design, and
specifically how the project’s objects reflect the actual data in your
organization’s data source. In this way, you can choose objects to use on
reports with full knowledge of the data source tables that data is coming from
when the report is executed.

For details on general project design and data modeling, see the
MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

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Questions you should ask about your project include:

• Do objects exist in the MicroStrategy metadata which match what users

want to see on reports? If not, you or another report designer can create
them.

MicroStrategy provides flexibility in combining information from your

data source into specific objects which reflect the concepts that make
sense to your users. Consolidations and custom groups are just two
examples of ways you can present data to your users in a way that does
not directly reflect your data source’s storage structure. For an
introduction to consolidations and custom groups, see Adding
consolidations and custom groups, page 404.

• What VLDB (Very Large Database) properties have been set? These
settings affect how the SQL is written when a report sends a SQL query to
your data source. VLDB properties are usually determined by an
administrator, but some may also be defined by a project’s designer. All
VLDB properties are described in detail in the Supplemental Reference
for System Administration.

• What project configuration settings have been set that will affect reports
or documents? Ask your project designer about any configuration
settings made for the project as a whole, because most reports and report
objects revert to the project’s settings when no object-specific or
report-specific settings override them.

Locate or create time-savers

Consider the following approaches to report creation:

• Before you create a report, search through MicroStrategy to see whether a
similar report already exists that can serve the same purpose as the report
you intend to create. This can save you time and help you avoid
unnecessary duplication in your MicroStrategy metadata.

• Before you create the finished report, use Microsoft Excel, Paint,
PowerPoint, or another tool to create a mock-up of the report you intend
to design. Send the mock-up to your user community to gather their
feedback on its usefulness. This can save you valuable time creating a
complex, finished report that may have to be redone.

• If you format the orientation of text in cells (for example, its vertical or
horizontal alignment within a cell), you can use an autostyle to apply that
same orientation to all reports you design. To do this, create an autostyle
with the desired vertical and horizontal alignment (see Preset
formatting: Autostyles, page 69). While creating the autostyle, from the

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Format menu select Row or Column, select Values, and choose your text
alignment on the Alignment tab. Then right-click the project, select My
Preferences, select the Grid tab, and select General. From the Default
style drop-down list, select your new autostyle to be applied to all reports
you create.

Quick report creation: Building a new report

If you are already familiar with MicroStrategy objects that are used to create
a report, and you need to create a report quickly, MicroStrategy’s Report
Builder steps you through the process of quick report creation.

Quick reports can be useful to test out a basic report design concept for a
more complex report, as described in Locate or create time-savers,
page 208. Before you spend time creating, formatting, and fine-tuning a
complex report, you can create a basic report quickly and ask users to
provide feedback on its general usefulness in answering their business
queries. Once you feel confident that your basic report design includes the
appropriate objects, you can move on to create any additional objects
necessary and to create the more complex, final report.

While Report Builder itself provides limited access to certain objects and
functionality during report creation, when you are finished with Report
Builder, it opens your new report in Design Mode if you have design
privileges. In Design Mode you can add, edit, or remove objects freely, and
you can provide additional functionality for users who will later execute the
report to perform data analysis.

To create a report quickly using Report Builder, see Creating a report for
analysis, page 195.

To create objects, see Creating and saving objects, page 213. To create a
report from scratch, see Creating a grid report, page 351.

MicroStrategy objects
All reports have specific business objects placed on them. Those objects
determine what data is gathered from your data source, how that data is
calculated, and how the results are displayed when each report is run.
Therefore, to create a report, you must first determine whether the objects
you want to place on it already exist. If they do not, you must learn how to
create the objects you want.

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Objects used on reports include such things as:

• Attributes: An attribute is a business concept, such as Product,

Employee, Month, and so on. Attributes provide a context for metrics
(described below). Attributes based on the data in your data source
should have already been created by your company’s project designer. An
attribute on a report serves as a label for a group of metrics. To use
attributes on a report, see Providing business context to a report:
Attributes, page 215.

• Metrics: A metric is a business measure or key performance indicator,

such as Revenue, Profit, Employee Headcount, or Probability of
Purchase. From a practical perspective, metrics are the calculations
performed on data stored in your database, the results of which are
displayed on a report. A metric on a report shows a list of values used for
analytical calculations. To create metrics and use them on reports, see
Calculating data on a report: Metrics, page 217.

• Filters: A filter sifts the data in your data source to bring back the
information that answers exactly what you require. To create filters and
use them on reports, see Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

• Prompts: 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. To create prompts and use them on
reports, see Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296.

The objects you can create in MicroStrategy fall into one of three groups:
schema objects, application objects, and reports and documents.
• Schema objects: Schema objects are generally created by a project
designer and include such things as facts, attributes, hierarchies, and
transformations. Schema objects are building block objects; they are used
to create application objects. For information on how to create these
types of objects, see the MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.
• Application objects: These objects are used to create reports.
Application objects are generally created by a report designer and are
built from schema objects. This chapter describes how to create these
types of objects. Samples of each type of application object are located in
the Public Objects folder in the Tutorial project.

• Report and document objects: Reports (and documents, if you own

MicroStrategy Report Services) are built from application objects.
Reports and documents are the objects that display the results calculated
from your data for analysis purposes. Reports and documents are
generally created by a report designer. This chapter describes how to
create these types of objects.

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The objects in each group, and their related icons, are shown in the following
diagram. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the icons for application
objects and reports, so you can quickly identify objects you want to use in the
MicroStrategy interface:

Application objects must be created and saved within a project before they
can be used on reports.

MicroStrategy projects
Conceptually, a project in MicroStrategy is the environment in which all
related reporting is done.

The image below shows the default projects that appear if all default
installation options were accepted during MicroStrategy installation. The

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projects in the image below include MicroStrategy Tutorial and My First

Project, as well as other sample projects.

A typical project contains reports, filters to qualify the report data, metrics
that calculate the data, attributes that provide context for the metric data,
and mathematical functions. Projects generally also contain other schema
objects and application objects. This chapter introduces you to basic
attributes, metrics, filters, and prompts. For detailed information on and
examples of other report objects, see the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide. For interface-specific information on report objects, click
Help.

The image below shows some dashboards in the MicroStrategy Tutorial

project, within the Billing Managers folder on the left. Objects within a

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selected folder on the left (in this case, the folder called Billing Managers)
appear on the right side of the screen.

Generally, a report designer places various MicroStrategy objects such as

filters, metrics, and attributes on reports, thus creating reports for business
users to run and analyze.

If you do not have a working project yet, you can use the Tutorial project with
most of the procedures in this chapter to learn how to create the various
report objects in MicroStrategy. For information about what the Tutorial
project is and how to access it, see About sample data and the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project, page 4.

Creating and saving objects

Before you create a report to display your business data, you must have
objects to place on the report. These objects define what business data will be
displayed in any report on which the objects are placed.

In MicroStrategy, you use editors to create and save the report-related

objects you intend to use on reports. Steps to create several types of objects
are in this chapter.

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When a saved object is placed on a report, the definition you gave to that
object becomes part of the report’s definition, and in turn affects the SQL
that is sent to your data source when the report is run. The SQL determines
the appropriate data to be gathered, calculated, and displayed on this report.
In this way, the objects you create and place on a report determine the results
a user sees when he runs the completed report.

Quick object creation

The quickest way to create an object is to create a shortcut object, which is
simply a shortcut to an existing object. Because a new shortcut object must
be based on an existing object, other objects must already exist in your
project. If your project does not yet contain objects, see the following
sections of this chapter to create the objects you need to place on reports.

Shortcut objects are stand-alone objects in MicroStrategy that represent

links to other objects, such as reports, filters, metrics, and so on. Shortcut
objects make navigating among objects easy and quick, because you can
locate specific report objects in the most useful folders within a project.
Creating shortcuts to objects in different locations facilitates access to these
objects without having to duplicate them.

Shortcuts also make project maintenance easier by eliminating the need to

maintain numerous duplicate copies of objects. Using shortcuts, when you
want to change any properties of an object, you only have to modify the
original object and these changes are reflected in all shortcuts linked to this
object. You can also edit the original object by right-clicking one of its
shortcuts and selecting Edit. The original object is displayed in the editor.

For steps to create shortcuts to existing objects, see Quick object access:
Creating shortcuts to objects, page 214.

Quick object access: Creating shortcuts to objects

The quickest way to access an existing object to place on a report is to create
a shortcut to the object, called a shortcut object. A shortcut object is simply a
link, or shortcut, to an existing object in a MicroStrategy project. You can
place a shortcut object in a location that is most convenient for you. By
creating shortcut objects for the objects you commonly use in a project, you
can make the report creation process quicker and easier.

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For example, you use the Units Sold metric frequently when you create new
reports. You want to create a shortcut to the Units Sold metric, which resides
in the project’s Metrics folder, and you want the shortcut to be saved in the
My Objects folder. Locate the Units Sold metric by expanding the Metrics
folder, then expanding the Sales Metrics folder. Right-click the Units Sold
metric and choose Create Shortcut. In the Browse to Folder dialog box that
opens, navigate to the My Objects folder and click OK. The Units Sold
shortcut object is created in the My Objects folder.

Prerequisites

• DHTML must be enabled. For steps, click Help in MicroStrategy Web.

• Because a new shortcut object must be based on an existing object, other

objects must already exist in your project. If your project does not yet
contain objects, your report designer or object designer can create the
objects you need to place on reports.

To create a shortcut object from the original object

1 In MicroStrategy Web, right-click the object for which you want to create
a shortcut and select Create Shortcut. A dialog box opens.

2 Navigate to the folder in which to create the new shortcut and click OK.
The shortcut is created in the specified folder. For example, you can save
shortcuts in your My Objects folder within your project.

3 By default, the name of the shortcut is the same as the name of the object.
To rename the shortcut, right-click the object and select Rename. Type a
new name for the object and click the Apply icon . The name of the
shortcut is updated.

Providing business context to a report:

Attributes
Attributes are the business concepts reflected in your stored business data in
your data source. Attributes provide a 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.

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For example, you have a report containing the Month, Year, and Region
attributes, as well as a Revenue metric. When executed, the report displays
your company’s revenue for each region, during each month and year for
which data is available. Because of the attributes on the report, a substantial
amount of information is available, including which regions produced the
least revenue and which years saw the highest growth in revenue. If you
remove the attributes from the report, you can only find out how much
revenue the company made in total. An attribute on a report serves as a label
for a group of metrics.

As you can see from the examples above, when you place attributes on a
report, you should choose attributes that make sense together when they are
on the same report.

Attributes are created by the project designer when an organization’s project

is first created. If you do not already have a company project running, you
can use the sample Tutorial project that comes with MicroStrategy. For
details on accessing the Tutorial project, see About sample data and the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project, page 4.

The elements of a business attribute are the unique values for that attribute.
For example, 2006 and 2007 are elements of the Year attribute, while New
York and London are elements of the City attribute. On a report, attributes
are chosen to build the report, but once the report is executed, the attribute’s
elements are displayed in the rows or columns.

To see sample attributes in the Tutorial project

1 Open the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and log in to MicroStrategy Web.

2 On the left, click Create and select New Report. Then select Blank
Report. The report opens in Design Mode.

3 On the left, click Attributes and explore the various attributes within
each folder.

For details on creating attributes, see your MicroStrategy project designer or

the MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

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Adding attributes to a report

To add one or more attributes to a new or existing report, see Reports:
Adding attributes to a report, page 357.

Calculating data on a report: Metrics

Metrics are MicroStrategy objects that represent business measures and key
performance indicators. From a practical perspective, metrics are the
calculations performed on data stored in your database, the results of which
are displayed on a report. Metrics are similar to formulas in spreadsheet
software.

It is not an overstatement to say that the focus of almost any report is its
metrics. Most of the decisions you make about the other objects to include on
a report depend on the metrics you use on the report. Questions such as
“What were the sales for the eastern region during the fourth quarter?” or
“Are inventory counts being consistently replenished at the beginning of
each week?” can easily be answered by metrics.

Specifically, metrics define the analytical calculations to be performed

against data that is stored in the data source. A metric is made up of data
source facts and the mathematical operations to be performed on those facts,
so that meaningful business analysis can be performed on the results. A
metric on a report shows a list of values used for analytical calculations.

Metric creation is usually the responsibility of advanced analysts.

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Viewing and working with metrics: The Function Editor

You use the Function Editor mode of the Metric Editor to create and save
most metrics, and to edit most existing metrics. The Function Editor is
shown in the image below:

To access the Function Editor

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the left, click Create, then select New Metric.
The Metric Editor opens in Function Editor mode.

2 Select the function to use to calculate data in the metric. You can narrow
the list of functions displayed in the pane by doing one of the following:

• To search for the function by name, type the function's name in the
search field.

• Choose a function category from the drop-down list, such as Math

Functions or Financial Functions. The pane is updated to include only
the functions that belong to the selected category.

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When you select a function, a description of the function is displayed at

the bottom of the dialog box. Click Details to view more information
about the function, such as syntax and examples.

To open an existing metric in the Function Editor

1 Click any metric within the MicroStrategy software to open that metric
and view the metric’s definition.

 Most metrics open in Function Editor mode in the Metric Editor.

Compound metrics and custom metrics open in Formula Editor mode
in the Metric Editor. For details on compound and custom metrics in
the Formula Editor, click the MicroStrategy Web Help.

Metrics terminology

The following terms are used throughout this guide and the MicroStrategy
Web Help and the Advanced Reporting Guide to describe aspects of metrics.
It is useful to understand their relationship to each other if you want to
develop a logical approach to creating metrics.

Metric formula: A metric’s formula is made up of a mathematical function

and the business facts stored in your data source. A metric’s formula can also
consist of other metrics.

Metric expression: A metric’s expression is made up of all the metric

components displayed when a metric is opened in the Function Editor:
formula (described above), level, condition (if any), and transformation (if
any).

Metric definition: A metric’s definition includes the metric’s expression, plus

any software settings applied to the metric.

All of the terms in the definitions above are described in the following pages.

Components of a metric
The pieces, or components, of a metric include such things as the metric’s
mathematical formula, the business context in which to calculate the
formula, and so on. When you define the components that make up a metric

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and then adjust any specific settings for the metric, you create a definition for
that metric.

A metric definition contains some components that are required, and some
components that are optional. The components you decide to include in the
metric’s definition are based on the calculations you want to be performed on
the data in your data source, and thus the results to be displayed when that
metric is placed on a report and the report is executed.

Required metric components

All metrics require the following components as part of the metric’s

definition:

• Mathematical formula, which includes a mathematical function

• Business level at which to calculate the formula

Both required metric components are described below.

Mathematical formula

A metric definition must contain a formula, which determines the data to be

used from your data source and the calculations to be performed on that
data. An example of the formula of a metric is

Sum(Cost)

where Cost is a fact stored in the data source. (Facts are one type of business
data, typically numeric, stored in a data source.) The metric formula above
calculates the sum of all costs recorded in the data source, to determine a
measure of a company’s expenditures.

A metric formula can be made up of facts in the data source (as in the
example above), business attributes in the data source, or other metrics that
have already been created. The following examples of metrics show these
different formula options:

• Metric made up of facts: (Sum(Profit) + Sum(Cost))

This metric’s formula adds all profits recorded in the data source, adds all
costs recorded in the data source, and then adds the cost total to the
profit total.

• Metric made up of attributes: Count(Employee)

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This metric’s formula counts the total number of company employees

recorded in the data source. (An attribute is a business concept that is
reflected in your stored business data, such as Year or Customer or
Product. Attributes provide a context in which to evaluate metric data.)

• Metric made up of other metrics: [This month’s profit] -

[Last month’s profit] / [Last month’s profit]

This metric’s formula subtracts last month’s profit (a metric) from this
month’s profit (another metric), then divides the result by last month’s
profit to determine the percent difference in profit from last month.
Existing metrics can be part of a newly created metric’s formula, and thus
they become part of the new metric’s definition.

A metric that contains other metrics is called a compound metric.

Compound metrics are discussed in Metrics made up of metrics:
Compound metrics, page 232.

If you are familiar with SQL syntax, a metric’s formula is included in the
SELECT clause of a SQL statement.

A metric formula that is shared among many metrics is called a base

formula; for details, see Base formulas, page 232.

Function

Most metrics must also have a mathematical function as part of the metric
formula. The function is part of the formula.

In the examples above, the functions are Sum and Count. If a formula did not
have a function, a metric formula might consist solely of the Cost fact or the
Profit fact, and the data results of such a formula would simply be the
extensive list of all the costs or profits ever recorded in the tables in your data
source.

The default function for every formula made up of facts is Sum. The default
function for every formula made up of attributes is Count.

Once your formula is in the Function Editor, you can change the function, of
course. MicroStrategy provides over a hundred functions that can be a part
of all calculations, whether simple or complex. For a description and
examples of every function available, see the MicroStrategy Functions
Reference. You can also create your own functions. See the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide for information on creating your own functions.

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Providing business context: Calculating metric levels

A metric’s formula must be calculated within the context of a business

concept. For example, a report with the metric called Revenue on it could
show a list of company revenue — but in what context? Revenue generated by
a particular salesperson, or by your company’s top five best-selling products?
Revenue earned last year, or lost due to lost sales leads last quarter? Revenue
data alone is meaningless without at least one business attribute to provide
context to the metric data. If you add the attribute Year, revenue for the
current year makes sense.

A metric, therefore, must be calculated in relation to some attribute if the

metric is to have meaning on the report. Therefore, every metric definition
must include a reference to the attribute that you want to provide context to
the metric’s calculation of data.

For an introduction to attributes, see Providing business context to a report:

Attributes, page 215.

Level of calculation for a metric

As noted above, a metric must be calculated within the context of a business

attribute - but which attribute? Most reports contain more than one
attribute. For example, on a report containing the Revenue metric and the
attributes Month and Year, is revenue calculated and displayed by month?
Or is it calculated and displayed by year?

Another way to ask this question is, at what level is the Revenue metric
calculated? Is it calculated at the higher-level Year attribute or the

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lower-level Month attribute? To understand an attribute’s level, picture a

hierarchy of related business attributes. An example is shown below:

The example above shows a hierarchy of all the attributes that relate to the
business concept of Time. (These attributes and this Time hierarchy are part
of the sample Tutorial project.) The attribute Year is higher than Quarter,
Month, or Day, because it appears above those other attributes. The highest
level attribute is usually the attribute that reflects the most-inclusive
business concept. In this hierarchy, Day is the lowest-level attribute and
reflects the least-inclusive business concept.

In another example, suppose that your company is an Internet-based retailer

and has its call centers all over the U.S. Your company therefore stores its
employee data in your data source within the concept of geographical regions
within the U.S. The related business attributes within this idea of

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geographical region become part of the Geography hierarchy. An example

using sample data from the Tutorial project is shown below:

In the Geography hierarchy above, Country is the highest-level attribute and

Employee is the lowest-level attribute.

A metric’s level (sometimes called dimensionality) determines the level at

which the metric is calculated. Therefore, every metric must have a level as
part of its definition. By default, a metric is calculated at the report level,
which means it is calculated at the level of the attribute on the report in
which the metric is placed.

When more than one attribute is on a report, as is generally the case, a metric
is calculated by default at the level of the lowest-level attribute that is on the
report. The lowest level is usually the attribute that reflects the
least-inclusive business concept. For example, a report shows your
company’s revenue listed by month and year. The report therefore contains
the Revenue metric and the attributes Year and Month. Is the Revenue
metric going to be summed up and displayed by year? Or is it going to be
summed up and displayed by month? The metric results by default are

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calculated to reflect monthly sales data, since Month is a less-inclusive, or

lower-level, concept than Year.

Determining calculation level

In MicroStrategy, the level at which a metric is calculated is displayed in both

the Function Editor and the Formula Editor.

In the Function Editor, the level appears in the Level area, as shown below,
where it is listed as Report Level:

In the Formula Editor, the level appears within curly braces, as shown below.

• {~} denotes the default metric level. If the default level is changed, the
name of the attribute that represents the new level appears between
the curly braces.

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• {~+} denotes that the metric is calculated at the level of the lowest
attribute on the report, which is the default calculation level for a
metric.

Following are examples of metric formulas with the level displayed at the end
of the formula:

Sum(Revenue - Cost){~+}

Sum(Abs (Revenue - Cost)){~+}

The level at which a metric is calculated can be changed. In a report that

shows Revenue, Year, and Month, which means the metric on the report
measures revenue by year and month, you might change the Revenue
metric’s level from the default of Month (which is the level of the lowest
attribute on the report,) and redefine the level as Year. The metric then
calculates at the Year level, and the report results display yearly sales data.
This metric appears in the Formula Editor as:
Revenue {Year}

For examples of more complex metrics with various levels, see the Advanced
Metrics chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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Metrics that do not use a level

Certain types of metrics can only have a level applied to their constituent
parts, not to the metric as a whole. These restricted metrics are called
compound metrics. See Metrics made up of metrics: Compound metrics,
page 232 for a description and examples of these types of metrics.

Optional metric components

Optional components that can be added to a metric include:

• Arithmetic operators, page 227

• Filtering metric data: Conditionality, page 227

• Time-series analysis: Transformation, page 230

• Base formulas, page 232

Arithmetic operators

A metric’s formula can also contain one or more arithmetic operators. You
can add an arithmetic operator to a metric’s definition in the Formula Editor
(to access the Formula Editor, from the Function Editor click the Switch to
Formula Editor link). Place the cursor in the appropriate location in the
metric’s formula and type the operator, such as + or -. When you are finished
changing the formula, click Validate to validate your formula.

Filtering metric data: Conditionality

When you filter data in your data source, you screen a broad set of data and
extract the specific information you want to see. For example, you have a
report that displays monthly operations data, such as operating income,
payroll, overtime, and so on. This report provides a good overall view of your
monthly numbers. You decide you want to see the same metric calculations
on the same data, but you want to restrict payroll numbers to contractors’
payroll only, and only for your subsidiaries in the northwest region. You can
create a filter consisting of Employee=Contractor and Region=Northwest.
You then apply this filter to the report, and your results appear and are
calculated for only the data that your filter specifies.

A filter is a condition placed on data from your data source. A filter placed on
a report as a whole screens overall report data. You can also apply a filter

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directly to an individual metric on a report. A filter applied this way screens

only the data related to that individual metric. The filter becomes part of that
metric’s definition.

In this context, the filter is called a condition and the metric to which the
filter is applied is called a conditional metric. A condition is not required in a
metric’s definition; this is an optional metric component. Applying
conditionality to a metric forces the calculation of a metric to be qualified by
the metric’s filter irrespective of what is specified in the report filter, if one
exists.

For example, you want to create a report with multiple metrics: Cost, Profit,
and Sales. You want to apply a time filter, January 2007, so that users only
see data for January, 2007 when the report is executed. To achieve this, you
create a report filter for January 2007 and place it on the report. However,
for one metric, Sales, you want to show all the values for the entire year
2007. You want this one metric to ignore the filter on the report. By creating
a condition for the Year=2007 and adding it to the Sales metric’s definition,
when the report is run the Sales metric ignores the report filter (January
2007) and uses its own condition (2007) to calculate and display the sales for
the entire year 2007.

To apply conditionality to a metric, you define a filter (a condition) as part of

the metric’s definition so that only data that meets the filter conditions is
included in that metric’s calculation.

To determine whether a metric has a condition applied to it

1 Click the metric you want to see the definition for. The metric opens in
the Function Editor.

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2 The metric’s condition is shown in the Condition area:

• In the example below, there is no filter displayed in the Condition

area, so this metric has no condition applied to it.

• In the example below, the Condition area shows the Web Sales filter,
so this metric has a filtering condition as part of its definition. The
condition filters data by looking at only those sales that occurred on
the web.

While you can only use one filter on a metric, that single filter can contain
multiple filtering criteria.

For details on filters generally and on creating various types of conditions for
filters, see Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

For information to create and use a conditional metric, as well as additional

examples on conditionality, information on conditional metrics with

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multiple conditions and levels, and details on how conditional metrics

interact with report filters, see the Advanced Metrics chapter of the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Metrics that do not accept a condition

Certain types of metrics can only have a condition applied to their

constituent parts, not to the metric as a whole. These restricted metrics are
called compound metrics. See Metrics made up of metrics: Compound
metrics, page 232 for a description and examples of these types of metrics.

Time-series analysis: Transformation

A transformation applies offset values, such as “four months ago,” to a metric

on a report. A transformation is not required in a metric’s definition; this is
an optional metric component.

Transformations are generally added to metrics that are designed to do

time-series analysis, for example, to compare values at different times, such
as this year versus last year, or month-to-date. Transformations are useful
for discovering and analyzing time-based trends in your data.

Transformations are created as a separate object and then added to a metric.

Transformations are schema objects, so you must have the appropriate
privileges to create or modify them.

When a transformation is created and applied to a metric, you have created a

transformation metric. A transformation metric is a metric that assumes the
properties of the transformation applied to it. For example, you create a
metric to calculate revenue. If you add a transformation named Month to
Date to that metric, the new metric (a transformation metric) calculates
month to date revenue, or the sum of revenue this month, up to today’s date.
The following image shows the resulting report from this example:

Any transformation can be included as part of the definition of a metric, and

multiple transformations can be applied to the same metric.

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To determine whether a metric has a transformation applied to it

1 Click the metric whose definition you want to see.

2 If the metric has a transformation, it is shown in the Transformation area

of the Function Editor, as shown in the images below:

• In the example below, there is no transformation displayed in the

Transformation area, so this metric has no transformation applied to
it.

• In the example below, the transformation transforms Month to Last

Month and Day to Last Month’s Day, so this metric has a
transformation as part of its definition.

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For details to use a transformation with a metric, and for more information
on metrics that use transformations, refer to the Advanced Metrics chapter
of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide. For information on
creating transformations, see the MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

Metrics that do not accept a transformation

Certain types of metrics can only have a transformation applied to their

constituent parts, not to the metric as a whole. These restricted metrics are
called compound metrics. See Metrics made up of metrics: Compound
metrics, page 232 for a description and examples of these types of metrics.

Base formulas

A base formula is a standard metric formula that is saved and then used in
multiple metrics. A base formula is typically a common expression used in a
large number of metrics.

A base formula saves time. As you create metrics, you do not have to type the
common formula repeatedly but can instead re-use the formula by adding
the base formula to each new metric.

A base formula used in a metric is linked to that metric as a shortcut. This

means that when you update the base formula, it is automatically updated in
all metrics in which it is used. Base formulas only contain calculation
information; they do not include level information or conditionality, and you
cannot use them to perform transformations or calculate subtotals.

For steps to create a base formula, add a base formula to a metric, or remove
the base formula from a metric, see the MicroStrategy Developer help
(formerly the MicroStrategy Desktop help).

To see the full expression for a metric that contains a base formula, in
Developer, open the metric in the Metric Editor, and then, in the Metric
metricname is defined as area, select Formula.

Metrics made up of metrics: Compound metrics

Certain types of metrics can only have a level, condition, or transformation
applied to their constituent parts, not to the metric as a whole. These metrics
are called compound metrics. If a metric contains any of the following
elements, it is a compound metric and can only have levels, conditions, and
transformations applied to its individual parts:

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• A metric is a compound metric if it uses a non-group function, which

includes OLAP functions and scalar functions. (For details on the all
functions available in MicroStrategy, see the MicroStrategy Functions
Reference.)

• A metric is a compound metric if it consists of two or more existing

metrics joined by an arithmetic operator (+, -, *, and /).

Each of these compound metric types is described with examples below.

One advantage of compound metrics compared to simple metrics is that

compound metrics can use smart totals. Smart totals define the evaluation
order for the final calculation. For more information on smart totals, see
Smart totals, page 242.

Compound metric with an arithmetic operator

The following example shows a compound metric that uses an arithmetic

operator to create a metric formula out of existing metrics:

Sum(Cost) + Sum(Profit)

where Cost and Profit are metrics. The addition operator (+) between the
two metrics makes this a compound metric.

The same metric is shown in the Formula Editor within the Metric Editor in
the image below. It is a compound metric because it contains an arithmetic
operator (+) that creates a formula out of two existing metrics, Cost and
Profit. The level of the metric is indicated between curly braces ({ }) in the
metric definition. {~+} denotes that the metric is calculated at the level of the
lowest attribute on the report, which is the default calculation level for a
metric. Each constituent metric has its own level, and you can change the

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default level for the individual metrics. No level exists for the entire
compound metric as a whole.

Levels, conditions, and transformations cannot be set on a compound

metric, although they can be applied separately on the constituent metrics
that make up the compound metric. For more information on compound
metrics and examples of compound metrics used in reports, refer to the
Advanced Metrics chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Compound metric with a non-group function

The following example shows a compound metric that uses a non-group

function:
RunningAvg(Cost)

where Cost is a metric. The Cost metric is part of the definition of the
RunningAvg(Cost) compound metric. The compound metric’s formula
contains a non-group function, Running Average.

The same metric is shown in the Function Editor within the Metric Editor in
the image below. It is a compound metric because it contains a non-group
function, Running Average. Because it uses a non-group function, the
Function Editor displays the value list and parameters for the function,

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rather than level, condition, and transformation options. The Cost metric is
the input value of the function.

If you switch to the Formula Editor, you do not see the syntax for the level, as
you did in the previous example (see Compound metric with an arithmetic
operator, page 233). You do not use a level, condition, or transformation
with a compound metric. You can apply a level, condition, or transformation
to the Cost metric that is used in this compound metric, by editing the Cost
metric.

Creating a metric
You create a metric using the Metric Editor. You can also use the Metric
Editor to modify an existing metric. For an image of the Metric Editor, see
Viewing and working with metrics: The Function Editor, page 218.

When you create a metric, you define its formula, enable a total or subtotal if
you want, and determine a function for dynamic aggregation. The following
steps walk you through this process in the Metric Editor.

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After you create a metric, you can then include it on a report. When placed on
a report, the metric becomes part of the report’s definition and determines
the data displayed each time the report is executed. For steps to add a metric
to a report, see Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

To create a metric

1 From the MicroStrategy home page, click New Metric . If you are on
a folder page, click Create on the icon bar on the left, then select New
Metric. The Metric Editor opens in Function Editor mode.

2 Select the function to use to calculate data in the metric. You can narrow
the list of functions displayed in the pane by doing one of the following:

• To search for the function by name, type the function's name in the
search field.
• Choose a function category from the drop-down list, such as Math
Functions or Financial Functions. The pane is updated to include only
the functions that belong to the selected category.

When you select a function, the function is added to the metric and a
description of the function is displayed at the bottom of the dialog box.
Click Details to view more information about the function, such as syntax
and examples.

To define the metric’s formula

3 Different options are available depending on the type of function selected

above:
• If you selected a grouping function, such as Sum, Average, First, or
Maximum, you define the metric's expression, as well as optional
components such as level, condition, and transformation. Do one of
the following:
 To specify the expression by typing the name of an object, type the
name of the object in the Function field. As you type, matching
objects are displayed in a drop-down list. You can type multiple
objects, such as Revenue-Profit.

To specify the expression by choosing an object, click the Browse
icon . The Select... dialog box opens. Navigate to and select an
object, or search for the object.

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
Depending on the function that you selected, you may be able to
define parameters for the function. Click the Function
Parameters icon .

• If you selected a non-grouping function, such as data mining, date,

OLAP, and ranking functions, you are presented with options to
define the input values (called arguments) for the function, as well as
any parameters you can use to determine the behavior of the function.
For guidance on arguments and parameters for the selected function,
click Details at the bottom of the dialog box. Perform the following
steps:

a Depending on the function that you selected, you may need to

determine arguments. For each argument listed, type a value or
click the Browse icon to find the metric, fact, prompt, or other
compatible object to use as input values of the function.

An argument is the input value of a function. For example, you can

select the Profit fact as the argument of the Average function, to
calculate the average profit.

b Depending on the function that you selected, you may need to

define parameters. For each parameter listed, type a value or select
the parameter value from the drop-down list.

Parameters determine the behavior of the function. For example,

the NTile function requires two parameters, Ascending and Tiles.
Ascending controls whether the NTiles are ordered in ascending or
descending order, while Tiles determines the number of splits.

To select subtotal functions

You can determine which aggregation functions can be used to calculate

subtotals for a metric. When the metric is added to a report and the
report is run, users can display subtotals for the metric by selecting from
the functions that you have made available. See Totals and subtotals,
page 239 for details on subtotals.

4 Click the Options icon . The Advanced Metric Options dialog box
opens.

5 In the list of categories on the left, click Subtotals.

6 Select the default function to use to calculate report subtotals from the
Function for default subtotal drop-down list.

7 You can select additional functions that will be available to calculate

subtotals for the metric. To do this, click the expand icon next to

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Select the subtotals you want available for this metric. Select the
subtotal types to be available to the user when the report is run, and clear
any subtotal types that you do not want to be available.

To select a dynamic aggregation function for OLAP Services

Dynamic aggregation allows you to change the level of report aggregation

as users move objects off the report grid and into the Report Objects
pane, and vice versa. You can define the dynamic aggregation function.

 For an overview of OLAP services, see OLAP Services, page 15. For
details to set up and use dynamic aggregation, see the Reports
chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

8 In the list of categories on the left, click General.

9 Select the function to be used for the report aggregation from the
Dynamic Aggregation function drop-down list.

10 Click OK to return to the Function Editor.

To save your new metric

11 Click Save to save your changes. The Save As dialog box opens.

12 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the metric. Type a Name
and Description for the metric, and click Save. A confirmation message
displays. Click OK. Your new metric is saved.

The metric you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Reports:
Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

A metric definition can also include a level, condition, and transformation.

To apply a level, condition, or transformation to your metric, see the sections
listed below:

• Providing business context: Calculating metric levels, page 222

• Filtering metric data: Conditionality, page 227

• Time-series analysis: Transformation, page 230

Joins for rank metrics

If you create a rank metric, which is a metric that ranks attribute elements by
numbering them, for example, 1 through 10, you must set the metric’s join

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type to outer. If the default inner join is used on a rank metric, some of the
ranks (and therefore, the ranked attribute elements) may not appear on the
report because an inner join does not include elements with null values in the
result set. But an element with a null value may have a rank. With an outer
join, all rows are displayed on the report even if there is no result displayed
for some of the elements for some of the metrics on the report. For steps to
set a metric’s join type, see Determining how metric data is combined:
Metric join types, page 98 in Chapter 3, Analyzing Data.

Totals and subtotals

You can enable subtotals and grand totals for a metric, so that analysts can
display them on a report at run time. You must decide what function will be
used to calculate a subtotal or grand total for a given metric. You can enable
several different subtotals from which analysts can choose, depending on
their analysis needs.

To see an example of a report with subtotals and a grand total, in the Tutorial
project open the Subtotals report, which is displayed below. The example
below shows subtotals for each region, an additional subtotal for each
quarter (encompassing all regions), and a grand total at the bottom of the
report.

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Grand totals (usually called totals) and subtotals allow users to control how
metrics are further calculated at different levels (such as by quarter, by year,
by region, and so on), and they can be applied dynamically by the analyst to
any report on which a metric is used that has the totals or subtotals enabled.

When you enable a total or subtotal for a metric, you select a function by
which the metric should be aggregated to display the total or subtotal. You
can use one of many standard functions such as total, count, minimum,
maximum, standard deviation, and others.

You can also create your own functions to be used with subtotal calculations.
For details on creating your own function, see the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide.

For more advanced information on subtotals, see the MicroStrategy

Advanced Reporting Guide.

Applying a grand total or subtotals to a metric

The following steps show you how to enable a grand total or subtotals for a
metric. When the metric is added to a report and the report is run, users can
display subtotals for the metric by selecting from the functions that you have
made available. Steps are also provided below to remove totals and subtotals
so that they cannot be displayed on a report.

To enable totals or subtotals for a metric

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric for which you want to enable a
grand total or subtotals. The Metric Editor opens in either Function
Editor mode or Formula Editor mode, depending on the type of metric
you chose to edit.

2 Click the Options icon . The Advanced Metric Options dialog box
opens.

3 In the list of categories on the left, click Subtotals.

4 Select the default function to use to calculate report subtotals from the
Function for default subtotal drop-down list.

5 You can select additional functions that will be available to calculate

subtotals for the metric. To do this, click the expand icon next to
Select the subtotals you want available for this metric. Select the

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subtotal types to be available to the user when the report is run, and clear
any subtotal types that you do not want to be available.

6 Click OK.

7 Click Save to save the metric with its newly enabled total and/or
subtotals. A confirmation message displays.

8 Click OK to close the Metric Editor.

To remove a grand total or subtotals from a metric

You may want to remove, or disable, a grand total or subtotals for a

particular metric. For example, if the metric counts inventory numbers,
subtotals may be irrelevant and should therefore not be displayed on a
report.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric for which you want to enable a
grand total or subtotals. The Metric Editor opens in either Function
Editor mode or Formula Editor mode, depending on the type of metric
that you chose to edit.

2 Click the Options icon . The Advanced Metric Options dialog box
opens.

3 In the list of categories on the left, click Subtotals.

4 To prevent a grand total from appearing when the metric is used on a

report, from the Function for default subtotal drop-down list, select
None.

5 To prevent any subtotals from appearing when the metric is used on a

report, click the expand icon next to Select the subtotals you want
available for this metric. Clear all subtotal types.

6 Click OK.

7 Click Save to save the metric. A confirmation message displays.

8 Click OK to close the Metric Editor.

When this metric is used on a report in the future, the removed totals or
subtotals cannot be displayed as part of the report.

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Smart totals

Smart totals are also referred to as smart metrics. Smart totals are used on
compound metrics.

Smart totals allow you to change the default evaluation order of a compound
metric. For details on what a compound metric is, see Metrics made up of
metrics: Compound metrics, page 232. Smart totals calculate subtotals on
individual elements of the compound metric. For example, a smart metric
uses the formula Sum (Metric1) / Sum (Metric2) rather than Sum (Metric1/
Metric2).

The smart metric property is available for compound metrics and for some
simple metrics which combine two or more calculation formulas with
arithmetic operators. To enable or disable smart metrics, use the Allow
Smart Metric check box on the Advanced Metric Options dialog box in the
Metric Editor.

For example, consider the following report.

Year Revenue Discount Ratio of Discount to Revenue

2005 $200 $50 25%

2006 $100 $50 50%

If you choose to display the grand total for the report without using smart
totals for the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric, you get the following
results.

Year Revenue Discount Ratio of Discount to Revenue

2005 200 50 25%

2006 100 50 50%

Total 300 100 75%

However, the Total value in the last column is incorrect; it is displaying a

sum of the percentages of the Ratio of Discount to Revenue metric. To
calculate a meaningful total value for this metric, enable smart totals by
editing them in the Metric Editor and selecting the Allow Smart Metric

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option. When you select the Allow Smart Metric check box, you get the
following correct results.

Ratio of Discount Sales

Year Total Sales Discount Sales
to Total Sales

2005 200 50 25%

2006 100 50 50%

Total 300 100 33.33%

A more complex business example for smart totals is provided in the

Advanced Metrics chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

To enable or disable smart totals for a metric

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric for which you want to enable or
disable smart totals. The Metric Editor opens in either Function Editor
mode or Formula Editor mode, depending on the type of metric that you
chose to edit.

2 Click the Options icon . The Advanced Metric Options dialog box
opens.

3 From the left, click General.

4 Do one of the following:

• To enable smart metrics, select Allow smart metric.

• To disable smart metrics, clear Allow smart metric.

5 Click OK.

6 Click Save to save the metric. A confirmation message displays.

7 Click OK to close the Metric Editor.

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Formatting a metric
Metrics can be formatted independently of the report(s) on which they
appear. When you format a metric, you can format the metric’s column or
row header, and you can also format the data that will appear for that metric.

You can apply special formatting to numeric values that appear when a
metric is calculated, such as currency, percentages, and date format style.
You can apply special font styles and sizes, and you can determine cell
background colors or patterns. This formatting can help analysts more easily
identify specific data. For example, you might have all sales data appear in a
blue font, while profit data appears in a bold green font.

Metric formatting can be performed using either of the following interfaces:

• Metric Editor: Use this method to format one metric at a time.

Formatting changes made using this method affect the metric no matter
which report the metric is included on. For details on accessing the
Metric Editor, see Viewing and working with metrics: The Function
Editor, page 218.

• Find and Replace feature: Use this method to format a number of metrics
at one time with the same format.

 For information about using the Find and Replace feature to

format metrics, see the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide. For specific steps to use the feature, as well as information
on each option in the software, open the Find and Replace feature
from Developer’s Tools menu, and then click Help.

For information to format metric data on a report so that the formatting

applies to that report only, see Formatting metrics on a specific report,
page 392.

Formatting a metric’s header and values

You can format a metric’s display of numeric values, font styles and sizes, cell
display colors, and so on. You can select different formatting options for
metric column headers (the title of the metric) and metric values (the
numbers calculated by the metric and displayed in the report). This
formatting, called metric-level formatting, is used to display the metric when
the metric is placed on a report. You can override metric-level formatting in a
specific report by defining formatting options on the report (except for graph
colors, as described below). For more information on metric formatting at

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the report level, including how the different levels work together, see the
Advanced Reporting Guide.

You can format the:

• Number display: Determine how numeric data is displayed. For

example, you can format numbers to appear as dollars and cents, as
percentages, or even as scientific notation. You can also determine
whether the values appear with or without decimal places.

 Number formatting is only relevant for metric values. If a number

appears in your report results that does not reflect a metric
calculation, such as a list of product identification numbers, you
cannot format the data.

• Alignment: Control vertical and horizontal alignment of data within a

cell, and select whether or not to wrap text. For example, you can right
justify and pad the data.

• Font: Select the font name, script, size, and color of the data; whether the
font is bold, underlined, or italicized; and whether to strikeout the text.

• Borders: Select the style and color of the border line. You can select
which borders (top, bottom, left, and right) are displayed, or hide all the
borders.

• Background: Apply a background color, including a gradient.

• Graph: Apply a background color for a metric when it is displayed as a

series in a graph report. (Available for metric headers.)

 Byanydefault, the graph color that you define for a metric overrides
default color schemes for the graph report, although you can
disable this metric formatting. For more detailed steps, see To
disable metric-specific graph colors in a graph report, page 63.

To format metric values or headers

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric you want to format. The Metric
Editor opens in either Function Editor mode or Formula Editor mode,
depending on the type of metric that you chose to edit.

2 Click the Format icon . The Format dialog box opens.

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3 Select the area of the metric to format by selecting one of the following
from the drop-down list at the top left:

• To format the metric column headers (the titles), select Metric

Headers.

• To format the metric values (the numbers calculated by the metric),

select Metric Values.

4 From the left, select the type of formatting to define for the metric:

• Number

• Alignment

• Font

• Borders

• Background

• Graph (available only for metric headers)

Select the appropriate options to define the formatting for the metric.
Click Help to see details on all the available options.

5 Repeat the appropriate steps above to add additional formatting as

desired.

6 Click OK to save your selections and close the Format dialog box.

7 Click Save to save the metric with your new formatting. A confirmation
message displays.

8 Click OK to close the Metric Editor.

Customizing a metric number format

You can create a custom format syntax for metric values to be displayed on
the report. Following are some examples of common customized formatting
you can apply to a metric:

• Cut off decimal numbers automatically after a certain number of digits, or

truncate the leading zero in a decimal so that 0.2 becomes .2.

• Align decimals down a column, rather than left-aligning or right-aligning.

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• Include strings that always appear with the calculated value, such as “this
month”, “sales=”, or “Customer no.”.

• Provide a specialized date or time format, such as Feb 3, 06 or 01h 32m.

To create a custom metric format

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric you want to format. The Metric
Editor opens in either Function Editor mode or Formula Editor mode,
depending on the type of metric that you chose to edit.

2 Click the Format icon . The Format dialog box opens.

3 Select the area of the metric to format by selecting one of the following
from the drop-down list at the top left:

• To format the metric column headers (the titles), select Metric

Headers.
• To format the metric values (the numbers calculated by the metric),
select Metric Values.

4 From the list of categories on the left, select Number.

5 Select Custom.

6 Enter your custom format syntax in the Custom field. See the Advanced
Reporting Guide for a table of formatting symbols you can use and
examples you can replicate.

7 Click OK to save your settings and close the Format dialog box.

8 Click Save to save the metric with your custom format. A confirmation
message displays.

9 Click OK to close the Metric Editor.

Asking for user input into a metric’s definition

You can allow the user who executes the report that contains the metric, to
decide for himself certain aspects of the metric’s formula. This lets each
individual user define the report results he sees. To do this, you include a
prompt in the metric’s definition. You can make use of prompts in any metric

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where you want to let each user impact the formula of the metric, by having
the user enter a specific number that makes sense for that user.

For example, if you create a tax metric that calculates tax numbers on sales,
you can let each user who executes the report enter the sales tax for his own
state. Thus, the report’s results will reflect the information each user wants
to see.

To add a prompt to your metric’s definition, use the following high-level

steps:

1 Decide what prompt type you need for your metric. Prompt types that you
can use in a metric definition are listed in the table in Reports: Adding
prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

2 Follow the steps in this chapter to create that prompt; for the appropriate
procedure, see Creating a prompt, page 305.

3 Then follow the steps in this chapter to add the prompt to your metric’s
definition; see Adding a prompt to a metric’s definition in the Metric
Editor, page 373.

Editing a metric
You can open an existing metric in the Metric Editor. The metric is ready to
be edited.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the metric you want to format. The Metric
Editor opens in either Function Editor mode or Formula Editor mode,
depending on the type of metric that you chose to edit.

2 Use the information above for various metric components and types of
metrics to edit your metric according to your needs, as follows:
• To change the formula or the function in the formula, see Required
metric components, page 220 or Creating a metric, page 235.

• To change or add an arithmetic operator, see Optional metric

components, page 227.
• To change or add totals or subtotals, see Applying a grand total or
subtotals to a metric, page 240.

• To edit the appearance of a metric or its values, see Formatting a

metric’s header and values, page 244.

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• To create a custom number format, see Customizing a metric number

format, page 246.

Adding a metric to a report

To add one or more metrics to a new or existing report, see Reports: Adding
metrics to a report, page 359.

Additional metric functionality

In the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide, you build on your
knowledge of metrics that you have learned in this guide. You learn about
creating various types of advanced metrics such as level metrics,
non-aggregatable metrics, and transformation metrics. You can find
information on the following advanced metrics topics in the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide:

• Compound metrics: Learn details about compound metrics, how they

work with smart subtotals, and additional information and examples.

• Level metrics: Learn about targets, grouping, filtering, and how to use
level metrics with filters, along with additional information and
examples.

• Conditional metrics: Learn about conditional metrics with multiple

conditions and with metric levels, how they work with report filters, and
additional information and examples.

• User-defined subtotals: Learn about these custom subtotals by

following the detailed examples.

• Metric-specific VLDB properties: Learn how to use certain VLDB (Very

Large Database) properties in MicroStrategy to customize the SQL
queries to your database.
• Metric column aliases: Learn about the information you can change for
a metric, such as the column name as it appears in the SQL for a report,
data type, and byte length.

• Metric functions: Learn how to use various functions that are

particularly useful or commonly used in metrics.

• Custom plug-in functions: Learn how to use custom functions to make

a metric relevant to your business environment.

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• Metric creation using Command Manager: Learn how to automate the

metric creation process.

Filtering data on a report: Filters

A report filter is the part of a MicroStrategy report that screens data in your
data source to determine whether the data should be included in or excluded
from the calculations of the report results. A brief introduction to filters is
provided for report analysts in Chapter 4, Answering Questions about Data,
in the section Filtering data, page 110. Review this information if you are
new to creating report filters. It describes how to view a filter’s definition for
a given report. This can be a useful way to create an effective filter, because
you can copy parts of an existing filter’s definition when creating a new filter.
You can even use an existing filter within a newly created filter.

If you are familiar with SQL syntax, a filter is equivalent to the WHERE
clause in a SQL statement.

Filters are helpful in clarifying large quantities of data and only displaying
subsets of that data, so reports show users what they really need to see. For
example, you want to determine the number of injuries to your delivery
personnel in 2005 that may have been due to bad winter weather in the
northeastern U.S. You also want to know the time of day when most injuries
occurred. You place the Delivery Location and Delivery Time attributes on
your report. You also place the Number of Reported Injuries metric on the
report. But you only want the report to display injuries in your northeast
region during the winter of 2005. Without a filter, you would have to sift
through a lot of report data on your own. By creating a filter that includes
Northeast Region, January 2005, and February 2005, and using that filter on
the report, the data displayed when the report is executed is limited to that
geographical region and season.

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In another example, consider the following diagram, which shows a table of

data filtered by three different filters.

Each filter returns a different result set. Filters ensure that the report results
contain only the data that answers the specific business query the report was
designed to answer. It is important to design the correct filter to retrieve the
desired data.

Filters are most commonly used on reports, to filter all the data the report
would otherwise retrieve from the data source and display to users. However,
filters can also be used with a specific object on a report, such as on a metric.
A filter placed on a metric only filters data related to that metric. When used
on a metric, a filter essentially “goes with” the metric so that whatever report
the metric is placed on, the filter is always part of that metric. (This type of
metric is called a conditional metric. For details on conditional metrics, see
the Advanced Reporting Guide.)

Filters are an important part of almost all reports. Understanding how to

create a filter is an important skill in making the best use of the data in your
data source. This section describes the different types of filters available in
MicroStrategy and shows you how to create a simple filter of each type.

Basic knowledge of formal logic is useful in understanding report filters and

their concepts, but it is not a prerequisite to learn how to create filters.

 Many of the reports and filters used as examples in this section

already exist in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project. You can follow the
steps presented in this chapter to create filters, or you can view the
saved samples in the Tutorial project. For information on the Tutorial
project and how to access it, see About sample data and the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project, page 4.

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A note on terms: filter, qualification, condition

A filter is composed of one or more qualifications. Qualifications define the

conditions that the data must meet to be included in a report, for example,
“Region = Northeast” or “Revenue > $1 million”. If a filter contains more
than one qualification, the qualifications are joined by an arithmetic operator
such as AND or NOT. For details on using operators to join filter
qualifications, see Joining filter qualifications with operators, page 282.

Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor

You can create and save a filter using the Filter Editor. You can also use the
Filter Editor to modify an existing filter. The Filter Editor is accessible from
MicroStrategy Web.

To access the Filter Editor

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens as shown below:

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To create a filter, see Types of filters, page 253 to determine which kind of
filter you need. Then follow the related procedure for the filter type you
choose to create.

To edit a filter, click on the filter in MicroStrategy Web. The filter opens
within the Filter Editor. For details on each filter type, see the appropriate
section below. For details on each option in the software, click Help.

After you create a filter, you can then include it in a report, a metric, or some
other report object. When placed on a report, a filter becomes part of the
report’s definition and affects the data displayed each time the report is
executed. For steps to include a filter on a report, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362.

Types of filters
Select a filter type from this list, and then specify the information that is
required for the type of filter you are creating.

Filter types include the following:

Filter Type Filter Name What Data It Is Designed To Filter

Attribute Attribute form Filters data related to a business attribute’s form(s), such
qualifications qualification as ID or description.
These types of Create a filter based on • For example, the attribute Customer has the forms ID,
qualifications attribute forms. First Name, Last Name, Address, and Birth Date. An
restrict data related attribute form qualification might filter on the form Last
For details, see
to attributes on the Name, the operator Begins With, and the letter H. The
page 261.
report. results show a list of customers whose last names start
with the letter H.

Attribute element list Filters data related to a business attribute’s elements, such
qualification as New York, Washington, and San Francisco, which are
Create a filter based on elements of the attribute City.
attribute elements. • For example, the attribute Customer has the elements
John Smith, Jane Doe, William Hill, and so on. An
For details, see
attribute element list qualification can filter data to
page 255.
display only those customers specified in the
qualification by selecting the In List option or all the
customers excluding those specified in the qualification
by selecting the Not In List option.

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Filter Type Filter Name What Data It Is Designed To Filter

Set qualifications Metric set Filters data related to a set of attributes that are
These types of qualification determined based on the metrics associated with those
qualifications Create a filter based on attributes.
restrict data based metric value or rank. • For example, a metric set qualification might filter data to
on the value, rank, display sales data for only those products with an
For details, see
or percentage of a inventory count below a specified number.
page 270.
metric, or based on
the relationships Relationship set Filters data based on a specific relationship between two
between the qualification attributes.
attributes on the Create a filter based on • For example, a relationship set qualification might filter
report. relationships between data to display those stores selling Nike shoes in the
attributes. Washington, DC area.
For details, see
page 272.

Shortcut Shortcut-to-a-report Uses the result set of an existing report as is, or with
qualifications qualification additional conditions, as a filter in a different report.
These types of Create a filter based on • For example, you might use a shortcut-to-a-report
qualifications the results of an qualification by taking the result set of one report
restrict data related existing report. showing all customers in the Southwest region, placing
to existing report that result set as a filter into a new report, adding a new
For details, see
results or an filter qualification for active customers in the current
page 276.
existing filter. year, and displaying all currently active customers in the
Southwest region.

Shortcut-to-a-filter Uses an existing filter as is, or with additional conditions, in

qualification a report.
Create a filter based on • For example, you might use a shortcut-to-a-filter
an existing filter. qualification by taking an existing filter for Region =
Northeast and Year = 2006, placing it in a report, and
For details, see
adding a new filter qualification for Month of Year =
page 280.
December.

You can also create advanced qualifications such as attribute-to-attribute

qualifications and prompted filters. For more information on all types of
advanced filters, refer to the Advanced Filters chapter of the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

Stand-alone filter vs. filter as part of report

This chapter primarily describes how to create stand-alone filters. A

stand-alone filter is a filter created as an independent MicroStrategy object.
The stand-alone filter can then be used on many different reports, as well as
on metrics and other objects. However, in MicroStrategy, filters can also be
created as part of a given report, at the same time the report itself is being
created. These kinds of filters are generically called report filters. Report

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filters are saved with the report’s definition. Therefore, a report filter cannot
be used on any other report.

However, a report filter can use any of the qualification types described in
this chapter. Both stand-alone filters and report filters accomplish the same
results: the filter’s qualifications determine the data to use when calculating
the data displayed in a report.

For an example of a report filter and steps to create one during the report
creation process, see the procedure in Creating a report for analysis,
page 195.

Filtering data based on business attributes: Attribute

qualifications
When you want to restrict report data to a certain subset of information, and
your restriction conditions are defined by an attribute’s forms or elements,
you use an attribute qualification. Attribute qualifications come in two types:
attribute element list qualifications and attribute form qualifications.

• Filtering data based on business attribute elements: Attribute element

list qualification, page 255

• Filtering data based on business attribute forms, page 261

Filtering data based on business attribute elements:

Attribute element list qualification

The elements of a business attribute are the unique values for that attribute.
For example, 2006 and 2007 are elements of the Year attribute, while New
York and London are elements of the City attribute. On a report, attributes
are chosen to build the report, but once the report is executed, the attribute’s
elements are displayed in the rows or columns.

The filter type called an attribute element list qualification qualifies (or
filters) report data based on a list of attribute elements belonging to an
attribute. For example, the attribute Customer has elements which are
individual customer names. For a report containing the attributes Region,
Customer, and Income Range, you can use an attribute element list
qualification on the attribute Customer to obtain income data for only those
customers you specify in your filter’s list.

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Attribute element list qualification example

You want to create a report that includes the revenue, cost, and profit by
month for all employees last year. However, certain months are not
representative of the normal business cycle, so they should be excluded from
the report calculations. To do that, you create an attribute element
qualification that excludes the months April, May, and December, which are
elements of the Month attribute.

The steps to create this attribute element list qualification are in the
procedure below. The example after the procedure shows how a report is
affected when this filter is applied.

Creating a filter based on attribute elements

This procedure creates an attribute element list qualification based on the

example described above. It uses the sample MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

To filter data based on business attribute elements

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the attribute that has the elements by
which you want to filter a report's data. Alternatively, type the name of
the attribute in the Find field.

3 Right-click the attribute and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the attribute to the right pane.
For the Tutorial example described above, browse to the Attributes folder
and select the Month of Year attribute.

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The right pane displays fields similar to the image below:

4 To create the list of elements that the filter will use to filter data, perform
the following steps:

a Click Select.

b From the In List drop-down list, select one of the following:


To define what attribute elements the filter should include data
for, select In List.
 To define what attribute elements the filter should exclude data
for, select Not In List.

For this Tutorial example, select Not In List.

c The Available area on the left displays the elements that belong to the
attribute you chose for this filter. Select an element and then click the
right arrow to move the element to the Selected area. Press CTRL to
select multiple elements. If the Available list contains a large number
of elements, use the Search for field to locate the elements you want
to select.

For this Tutorial example, select April, May, and December.

5 Click the Apply icon to create your filtering condition.

6 Click Save As. The Save As dialog box opens.

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7 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Enter a name and
description for the filter in the Name and Description fields.

For this Tutorial example, name the filter Month and save it in the My
Objects folder.

8 Click OK. Your new filter is saved.

 Ifunintentionally
you have multiple qualifications, be aware that it is possible to
change the evaluation order of a filter’s qualifications
simply by adding a new qualification and not looking at where the new
qualification is added in the list of qualifications. For information on
changing the evaluation order of qualifications, see Changing the
evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, page 295.

The filter you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Reports:
Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

If you followed the Tutorial example in the procedure above, you created the
Month filter which excludes the months April, May, and December. Now see
what happens to report data when the filter is used on a report. Open the
Basic Report from the Tutorial project, located in Shared Reports\
MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\

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Advanced Reporting Guide. The Basic Report, part of which is shown

below, displays employee revenue, cost, and profit for all months of the year:

In the Basic Report, Leanne Sawyer’s contribution to revenue is $2,411,912.

Next, add your Month filter. To do this, from the Home menu click the
Design icon. From the left pane, navigate to where you saved your Month

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filter, and drag the filter into the report’s filter pane. When you re-execute
the report, it looks like the following image:

(To see the filtered report shown above, open the report named Filter -
Month Report Filter from the Tutorial project, located in Shared
Reports\MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\Advanced
Reporting Guide.) In this filtered report, the metrics have different
values than in the unfiltered Basic Report. Sawyer’s contribution to revenue
is now $1,813,538. In the unfiltered Basic Report, the data was retrieved
from the data warehouse for all months of the year. In the filtered report, the

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data for the months April, May, and December is not retrieved from the data
warehouse, so the metrics cannot include this data in their calculations. As
this filtered report shows, your top revenue-producing employees can be
very different if you exclude the months April, May, and December.

Filtering data based on business attribute forms

Attribute forms are additional descriptive information about a business

attribute. Most attributes only have the forms ID and Description. But an
attribute can have many other forms. For example, the attribute Customer
has the forms First Name, Last Name, Address, Email Address, and so on. A
form is a descriptive category for any data your organization saves about any
of its attributes.

Attribute form qualifications allow you to filter report data based on an

attribute form. For example, to return data for only those customers whose
last names start with the letter H, you can create an attribute form
qualification defined with the form Last Name, the operator Begins With,
and the letter H as the value.

Attribute form qualification example

A report includes the revenue, cost, and profit for all employees. You want to
view the data of only those employees whose last name begins with the letter
B. To do this, create a filter that qualifies on the Last Name form of the
attribute Employee. The steps to create this attribute form qualification are
listed below. The example after the procedure shows what happens to report
data when the filter is used on a report.

Creating a filter based on business attribute forms

This procedure creates an attribute form qualification based on the example

described above. It uses the sample MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

To filter data based on business attribute forms

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

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2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the attribute whose form you want to
filter a report's data by. Alternatively, type the name of the attribute in the
Find field.

3 Right-click the attribute and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the attribute to the right pane.

For this Tutorial example, choose Employee.

The right pane displays fields similar to the image below:

4 To create the list of forms that the filter will use to filter data, perform the
following steps:

a Select Qualify.

b From the first drop-down menu, select the form you want to filter data
based on.

For this Tutorial example, click Last Name.

c From the next drop-down menu, select the operator that describes
how you want to filter the data.

For this Tutorial example, click Begins With.

d In the last field, type the value to use to qualify on the attribute form.
This is the value that will be compared against the data in your data
source.

Depending on the operator you have selected, you may need to enter
multiple values. For example, the operator Between requires two
values.

For a date attribute form, you can compare the form to a dynamic
date, which is a fixed offset of the current date, such as one month
ago. For more information on dynamic dates, see the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

For this Tutorial example, type B.

5 Click Apply to create your filtering condition.

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6 Click Save As. The Save As dialog box opens.

7 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Type a Name and
Description for the filter.

For this Tutorial example, name the filter Employee Last Name = B and
save it in the My Objects folder.

8 Click OK. Your new filter is saved.

 Ifunintentionally
you have multiple qualifications, be aware that it is possible to
change the evaluation order of a filter’s qualifications
simply by adding a new qualification and not looking at where the new
qualification is added in the list of qualifications. For information on
changing the evaluation order of qualifications, see Changing the
evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, page 295.

The filter you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Reports:
Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

If you followed the Tutorial example in the procedure above, you created the
Employee Last Name = B filter which excludes all employees except those
whose last name begins with the letter B. Now see what happens to report
data when the filter is used on a report. Open the Basic Report from the
Tutorial project, located in Shared Reports\MicroStrategy

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Platform Capabilities\Advanced Reporting Guide. The Basic

Report, shown in the image below, displays data for all employees:

Next, add your Employee Last Name = B filter. To do this, from the Home
menu click the Design icon. From the left pane, navigate to where you saved

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your Employee Last Name = B filter, and drag the filter into the report’s filter
pane. When you re-execute the report, it looks like the following image:

The report displays the revenue of only those employees whose last names
begin with the letter B.

Filtering data based on dates

This filter is an attribute form qualification that enables you to filter data
based on an attribute with a date data type. For example, you can create a
date qualification on the Day attribute to return data for only those days
between January 1, 2011, and February 6, 2011.

Use the following procedure to create a date qualification filter. The example
after the procedure shows what happens to report data when the filter is used
on a report.

Creating a filter based on dates

This procedure creates a date qualification based on the example described

above. It uses the sample MicroStrategy Tutorial project.

To qualify on a date

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

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2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the attribute with the date data type on
which you want to qualify. Alternatively, type the name of the attribute in
the Find field.

3 Right-click the attribute and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the attribute to the right pane.

For this Tutorial example, select the Day attribute.

The right pane displays fields similar to the image below:

4 Select Qualify.

5 From the first drop-down menu, select the form you want to filter data
based on.

For this Tutorial example, click the ID attribute form.

6 From the next drop-down menu, select the operator that describes how
you want to filter data.

For this Tutorial example, select Between.

7 In the last field, type the value(s) or click the calendar to select a date to
use to qualify on the attribute form. This is the value that will be
compared against the data in your data source.
If you are using a date range in your filter, click the calendar again to
select the second date. For example, if you want to filter data so the report
shows results between January 1, 2011 and February 6, 2011, click the
calendar and select January 1, 2011, then click the calendar again and
select February 6, 2011.

You can compare the form to a dynamic date, which is a fixed offset of the
current date, such as one month ago. For more information on dynamic
dates, see the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

For this Tutorial example, use the drop-down list to select the date range
January 1, 2011 to February 6, 2011.

8 Click the Apply icon to create your filtering condition.

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9 Click Save As. The Save As dialog box opens.

10 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Type a Name and
Description for the filter.

For this Tutorial example, name the filter Date Filter and save it in the
My Objects Folder.

11 Click OK. Your new filter is saved.

 Ifunintentionally
you have multiple qualifications, be aware that it is possible to
change the evaluation order of a filter’s qualifications
simply by adding a new qualification and not looking at where the new
qualification is added in the list of qualifications. For information on
changing the evaluation order of qualifications, see Changing the
evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, page 295.

The filter you created can now be added to reports. For steps, see Reports:
Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

If you followed the Tutorial example in the procedure above, you created the
Date Filter which excludes all data except the data gathered between January
1, 2011 and February 6, 2011. Now see what happens to report data when the
filter is used on a report. Open the Basic Report from the Tutorial project,
located in Shared Reports\MicroStrategy Platform

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Capabilities\Advanced Reporting Guide. The Basic Report, shown

in the image below, displays all employee revenue:

Notice the revenue amount of Leanne Sawyer. Next, add your Date Filter. To
do this, from the Home menu click the Design icon. From the left pane,
navigate to where you saved your Date Filter, and drag the filter into the

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report’s filter pane. When you re-execute the report, it looks like the
following image:

The report displays the revenues of employees for only the specified date
range. Notice the new revenue amount for Leanne Sawyer.

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Filtering data based on attribute relationships or metrics: Set

qualifications
This type of filter allows you to generate data in a report based on a set of
attributes. The set of attributes is generated dynamically based on either the
metrics associated with those attributes or the relationships between the
attributes.

For example, a metric set qualification might limit the data displayed on a
report to sales numbers for only those products whose current inventory
count falls below a certain number. The system must first generate the set of
products with the specified inventory count; then it can generate the sales
numbers for that set of products. For details and steps, see Filtering data
based on metric value or rank: Metric set qualification, page 270.

A relationship set qualification might limit the data displayed on a report to

those bank customers who have checking accounts but not savings accounts.
In this example, the system must first generate the set of customers with
checking accounts; then it can generate the subset of those customers
without savings accounts. For details and steps, see Filtering data based on
relationships between attributes: Relationship set qualification, page 272.

Filtering data based on metric value or rank: Metric set

qualification

A metric set qualification lets you define the attributes to be used in a filter
by restricting the attributes in the set based on the value, rank, or rank
percentage of a metric associated with the attributes. For example, a store
manager wants to see sales numbers for products whose current inventory
count falls below a certain level. A metric set qualification lets the manager
restrict data based on a set of attributes, in this case certain products, based
on a metric value, rank, or rank percentage, in this case, inventory count
below a certain level.

The resulting report displays the sales data for only those products with
inventory counts below the threshold value. This report does not necessarily
display the inventory figures for those products.

Filters and metric calculations: Output, Break By, and rank

A metric set qualification is additionally defined by an output level and a

break by setting. The output level specifies the level at which the metric is

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calculated, and the break by setting allows you to choose the level at which to
restart counting rank or percent values for a metric. For more information
and examples on output level and break by, see the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide. For an explanation of levels, see Providing business
context: Calculating metric levels, page 222.

You can also designate a level at which to stop counting rank or percent
values for a metric and then restart the count. See the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide for details and an example to use the BreakBy
property in a metric set qualification.

Creating a filter based on metric value or rank

Use the following steps to create a simple metric set qualification. For more
details on any of the options, click Help.

To filter data based on a metric value, rank, or rank percentage

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the metric on which you want to filter
data. Alternatively, type the name of the metric in the Find field.

3 Right-click the metric and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the metric to the right pane.
The right pane displays fields similar to the image below:

4 From the first drop-down menu, select an operator that describes how
you want to filter data, such as Equal To or Less Than.

5 In the field on the right, type a metric value to use for the metric
qualification. This is the value against which the metric calculation will be
compared.

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Depending on the operator you selected from the previous drop-down

menu, you may need to type multiple values. For example, the operator
Between requires two values.

6 Click the Apply icon to create your filtering condition.

7 Click Save As. The Save As dialog box opens.

8 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Enter a Name
and Description for the filter, and click OK. Your new filter is saved.

 Ifunintentionally
you have multiple qualifications, be aware that it is possible to
change the evaluation order of a filter’s qualifications
simply by adding a new qualification and not looking at where the new
qualification is added in the list of qualifications. For information on
changing the evaluation order of qualifications, see Changing the
evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, page 295.

The filter you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Reports:
Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

Filtering data based on relationships between attributes:

Relationship set qualification

A report must list customers from the same region as a specific customer,
Hugh Abarca. You need to use the relationship between customer and
customer region to filter the report. A relationship set qualification lets you
restrict data based on the relationship between two attributes, in this case
Customer and Customer Region.

The image below shows a section of the report without the relationship set
qualification added. Notice that all customers are listed regardless of
customer region.

In a relationship qualification, you create a relationship between two

attributes and then place a filter on that relationship. In this case, a
relationship between customer Hugh Abarca and Customer Region is created

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and the report is filtered to show only customers in the same region as Hugh
Abarca.

Relationship filters are considered set qualifications because they create a

subset of attributes from the whole. They are created using either the Set
qualification or Advanced qualification option in the Filter Editor. The Set
qualification option provides an interface to guide you through the process,
whereas the Advanced qualification option allows you more control by
letting you use commands. For more information on the Advanced
qualification option, see the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Filters and attributes: Output level

A relationship set qualification lets you determine the output level, which is
the level at which the set should be calculated. Using the example above, to
create a report that shows customers in the same region as Hugh Abarca, you
need to set the output level to Customer Region and the filter qualification to
Hugh Abarca.

For details on levels, see How data is aggregated on a report: metric level,
page 118. For more information on the output level, see the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

Creating a filter based on relationships between attributes

Use the following steps to create a simple relationship set qualification. For
more details on any of the options, click Help or see the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

 AMicroStrategy
filter based on relationships between attributes is created from
Developer.

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To create a filter based on relationships between attributes

1 Log in to a project in Developer. On the File menu, point to New, and

choose Filter. The Filter Editor opens.

If the New Filter dialog box is displayed, click the Empty Filter icon. If
you do not want this dialog box to be shown in the future, select Don't
show this dialog in the future. Click OK. For more information about
Object templates, see the Designing Reports chapter of the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

• If you are using the MicroStrategy Tutorial to create the example

mentioned above, log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial project. Create
a new report containing the Customer Region and Customer
attributes, and the Revenue metric. To create a new report in
Developer, see the MicroStrategy Developer Help.

2 Double-click the Filter definition pane at the top right. The Filtering
Options pane opens.

3 Click the Add a Set qualification option, and click OK. The Set
Qualification pane opens.

4 Select Relationship from the Type drop-down list. The Set Qualification
pane expands, similar to the image below:

5 Set the output level, which is the level at which the set is calculated. To do
this, browse by clicking ... (the browse button) next to the Output Level to

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locate the level at which you want the set calculated. Select the attribute,
and click OK. (For an explanation of levels, see How data is aggregated
on a report: metric level, page 118.)

• If you are using the Tutorial, set the output level to Customer Region.

6 In the Filter Qualification area, choose a filter in one of the following

ways:

• To use an existing filter, click Browse. In the Open dialog box,

navigate to the folder that contains the filter, select the filter, and click
OK.

• To build a new filter, click Create. The Qualification Editor opens.

(You may notice that this editor is similar to the Filter Editor.) Click
Help for steps to use the Qualification Editor to create a filter. When
you are finished, click Save and Close.

If you are using the Tutorial, create a filter with an attribute
qualification for Customer = Hugh Abarca.

7 By default, the Filter Qualification chosen applies to the whole report and
not just the relationship filter. You can change this option by clicking
Advanced and clearing the Also apply this qualification
independently of the relationship filter box. For more information on
this option, see the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.
• If you are using the MicroStrategy Tutorial, clear the default so the
Hugh Abarca filter is applied only to the relationship. Otherwise,
when the report is executed, the only row in the report will be Hugh
Abarca, with no other customers from his region included.

8 Click OK to close the Set Qualification pane.

9 Click Save and Close on the Filter Editor toolbar. The Save Filter As
dialog box opens.

10 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Enter a Name
and Description for the filter, and click OK. Your new filter is saved.

11 Navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter. Enter a Name
and Description for the filter, and click Save. Your new filter is saved.

 Ifunintentionally
you have multiple qualifications, be aware that it is possible to
change the evaluation order of a filter’s qualifications
simply by adding a new qualification and not looking at where the new
qualification is added in the list of qualifications. For information on

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changing the evaluation order of qualifications, see Changing the

evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, page 295.

The filter you created can now be added to a report. If you are using the
MicroStrategy Tutorial, apply the filter to the report you created above. For
steps, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

Filtering data based on existing filters or report results:

Shortcut qualifications
You can use existing report results or existing filters as the basis of a new
filter. These types of filters are called shortcut qualifications, because you are
creating a shortcut to an existing report or to an existing filter. Details and
steps to create each type are below:

• Filtering data based on the results of another report:

Shortcut-to-a-report qualification, page 276

• Filtering data based on an existing filter: Shortcut-to-a-filter

qualifications, page 280

Filtering data based on the results of another report:

Shortcut-to-a-report qualification

The results of an existing report can be used as a filter for another report.
You can use the first report itself as a filter inside a new report. This type of
filter is called a shortcut-to-a-report qualification.

 Tocontain
be used as a shortcut-to-a-report qualification, a report cannot
any of the following objects or be of any of the following
report types:

• Consolidations

• Custom groups

• Freeform SQL reports: Reports created using MicroStrategy’s

Freeform SQL functionality

• MDX cube reports: Reports that draw their data from an MDX
cube source such as SAP Business Intelligence Warehouse (SAP
BW), Microsoft Analysis Services (Analysis Services), or Hyperion
Essbase (Essbase)

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For example, consider the Basic Report shown below, which has no filter.
Notice that Leanne Sawyer has earned $2,411,912 in revenue.

Create a new filter. Drag and drop the Revenue By Brand report into the right
pane of the new filter, and save. Open the Basic Report and drag and drop
your newly-created filter to the Report Filter pane, to use the Revenue By
Brand report as a filter in the Basic Report. Finally, re-execute the Basic
Report.

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With its new filter, the Basic Report displays the revenue generated by each
employee only for those brands specified in the results of the Revenue by
Brand report. The filtered Basic Report is shown below. Notice that Leanne
Sawyer has now earned only $1,655,540 in revenue.

You can perform the example above on your own. The Basic Report and the
Revenue By Brand report are located in Shared Reports\
MicroStrategy Platform Capabilities\Advanced Reporting
Guide.

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You can also use a report as a filter and then add additional qualifications to
expand the overall filter definition. For example, you can take the result set
of one report showing all customers in the Southwest region, place that result
set as a filter into a new report, and add a new filter qualification for active
customers in the current year. The new report displays all currently active
customers in the Southwest region.

This approach shows you the value of creating some basic, relatively simple
reports in your project, such as a report for customers in a specific region.
Then you can make use of these basic reports within shortcut-to-a-report
filters to make the filter creation process quicker.

Shortcut-to-a-report qualification and OLAP Services

If you have MicroStrategy OLAP Services, be aware that a report’s view

definition does not affect how the report is used in a shortcut-to-a-report
qualification. A report’s data definition is the query that is sent to the
database to retrieve information for the report, whereas the report’s view
definition determines how much of the retrieved information is displayed in
the report. When you use a report as a filter, the report’s entire data
definition is considered; any view definitions do not influence the filter
conditions.

For an introduction to MicroStrategy OLAP Services, see Determining

whether you have OLAP Services, page 15.

Creating a filter based on the results of a report: Shortcut-to-a-report

qualifications

Use the following steps to create a simple shortcut-to-a-report qualification.

For more details on any of the options, click Help.

To use a report as a filter in a shortcut-to-a-report qualification

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the report that you want to use as a
filter. Alternatively, type the name of the report in the Find field.

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3 Right-click the report and select Add to Filter. Alternatively, drag and
drop the report to the right pane.

 You cannot use a report containing a consolidation or custom

group, a Freeform SQL report, or an MDX cube report as a
shortcut to a report.

The report is added to the right pane as shown in the image below:

4 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter,
type a Name and Description for the filter, and click OK. Your new filter
is saved.

The shortcut-to-a-report filter you created can now be added to a report. For
steps, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

Filtering data based on an existing filter: Shortcut-to-a-filter

qualifications

A shortcut-to-a-filter qualification allows you to move an existing filter into a

new filter, and apply the new filter to a report. You can also add additional
conditions to the new filter and then apply the new filter to the report. For
example, Filter 1 contains two conditions, A and B. You can use Filter 1 as the
basis of a new filter, and then add another condition C to the new filter. The
data that is filtered for must then satisfy all three conditions A, B, and C to be

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included in any report which uses the new filter. Note that Filter 1 remains
unchanged throughout this process.

For example, you are a manager in New England, responsible for stores in
Boston, Providence, and Greenwich. Your project contains a filter called
Stores In My Region, which is defined as the Boston, Providence, and
Greenwich stores. A second filter, called the Women’s Clothing filter,
includes the categories Blouses and Dresses. A third filter, All Days in
December 06, is a date range that includes all the days in the month of
December, 2006. To study December sales in your stores for women’s
clothing, you create a new filter. The new filter includes a shortcut to each of
the three filters. Use this new filter in your report. The original three filters
are unchanged, which is useful for other reports that use one or more of
those filters.

You can also use an existing filter as a base for a new filter and then add
additional qualifications to expand the overall filter definition. For example,
you can take a filter that screens data for all customers in the Southwest
region, place that filter into a new filter, and add a new filter qualification for
active customers in the current year. The new filter screens data for all
currently active customers in the Southwest region.

This approach shows you the value of creating some basic, relatively simple
filters in your project, such as a filter for customers in a specific region. Then
you can make use of these basic filters within shortcut-to-a-filter filters to
make the filter creation process quicker.

Creating a filter based on another filter

Use the following steps to create a simple shortcut-to-a-filter qualification.

For more details on any of the options, click Help.

To create a filter based on another filter

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the filter that you want to use in the
new filter. Alternatively, type the name of the filter in the Find field.

3 Right-click the report and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the filter to the right pane.

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The filter is added to the right pane as shown in the image below:

4 Add desired conditions to the filter. Navigate to the appropriate report

object in the pane on the left. Right-click and select Add to Filter. Define
the conditions in the right pane.

5 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the filter,
type a Name and Description for the filter, and click OK. Your new filter
is saved.

The filter you created can now be added to a report. For steps, see Reports:
Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

Joining filter qualifications with operators

When a filter has multiple qualifications, they are always joined by operators.
When qualifications are joined, operators govern the interaction between
different filtering conditions and thus affect the evaluation order of
qualifications in a filter.

Whenever you have more than one qualification in a report filter, you can
define the operator as any of the following:

• AND

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• OR

• OR NOT

• AND NOT

The AND operator is the operator assigned by default when more than one
qualification is added to a filter. You can change the default AND operator by
simply clicking or right-clicking on the word AND, and selecting a different
operator.

Each of the operators listed above is described below, with a report example.

For more information on advanced operators to apply to a report limit, see

Appendix B: Logical and Mathematical Operators for Filtering in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

For more information on changing evaluation order among qualifications in

a filter, see Changing the evaluation order of qualifications in a filter,
page 295.

The AND operator

By default, the operator AND is inserted between filter qualifications.

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The following images show the initial report with no filter, and the resulting
report after two filter qualifications are applied and joined with AND. The
initial report with no filter appears as follows:

After the filter (Year = 2010) And (Region = Northeast) is applied to the
initial report, the report appears as follows:

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The following diagram shows the impact of the AND operator on a result set:

The shaded area represents the report’s result set, which contains only
revenue generated in the Northeast in 2010.

The OR operator

For those familiar with logic terminology, the OR operator acts as an

inclusive OR, not an exclusive OR.

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The following images show the initial report with no filter, and the resulting
report after two filter qualifications are applied and joined with OR. The
initial report with no filter appears as follows:

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After the filter (Year = 2010) Or (Region = Northeast) is applied, the report
appears as follows:

The following diagram shows the impact of the OR operator on a result set:

As represented by the shaded areas, revenue generated in either 2010, or the

Northeast, or in both 2010 and the Northeast, is returned in the result set.

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The OR NOT operator

The following images show the initial report with no filter, and the resulting
report after two filter qualifications are applied and joined with OR NOT.
The initial report with no filter appears as follows:

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After the filter (Year = 2010) Or Not (Region = Northeast) is applied, the
report appears as follows:

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The following diagram shows the impact of the OR NOT operator on a result
set.

In this case, revenue generated in 2010 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.

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The AND NOT operator

The following images show the initial report with no filter, and the resulting
report after two filter qualifications are applied and joined with AND NOT.
The initial report with no filter appears as follows:

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After the filter (Year = 2010) And Not(Region = Northeast) is applied, the
report appears as follows:

The following diagram shows the impact of the AND NOT operator on a
result set.

As shown by the shaded area, revenue generated in 2010 in any region except
the Northeast is returned in the result set.

Changing the operator which joins filter qualifications

The following steps show how to change the operator that joins filter
qualifications.

Changing the operator can affect the evaluation order among qualifications
in a filter. For more information on changing evaluation order among

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qualifications in a filter, see Changing the evaluation order of qualifications

in a filter, page 295.

To change the operator between filter qualifications

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Filter. The New
Filter page opens.

2 From the pane on the left, add more than one qualification to the pane on
the right. For steps to create filter qualifications, see Creating or editing
filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

3 In the right pane, right-click the operator and then choose the required
operator, as shown in the image below:

Asking for user input into a filter’s definition

You can allow the user who executes the report that contains the filter, to
decide for himself certain aspects of the filter’s definition. This lets each
individual user define the report results he sees. To do this, you include a

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prompt in the filter’s definition. You can make use of prompts in any filter
where you want to let each user impact the results of the filter, by having the
user enter a specific number, date, or text that makes sense for that user. For
examples of prompts, see Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296.

To add a prompt to your filter’s definition, use the following high-level steps:

1 Decide what prompt type you need for your filter. Prompt types that you
can use in a filter’s definition are listed in the table in Reports: Adding
prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

2 Follow the steps in this chapter to create that prompt; for the appropriate
procedure, see Creating a prompt, page 305.

3 Then follow the steps in this chapter to add the prompt to your filter’s
definition; see Adding a prompt to a filter’s definition in the Filter
Editor, page 375.

Editing a filter
You can make changes to an existing filter using the Filter Editor. For an
image of the Filter Editor and more information on working with filters, see
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

When you edit a filter, you can add a new qualification, change the operator
in a qualification, or remove a qualification that is part of the filter’s
definition. You can also change the evaluation order of qualifications.
• To add qualifications, see Types of filters, page 253 to determine the type
of qualification you want to add, then use the appropriate section for the
type of filter you choose.

• To change operators between qualifications, see To change the operator

between filter qualifications, page 293.

• To remove a qualification from a filter, open the filter, click the Remove
condition icon to the left of the qualification you want to delete.

• To change the evaluation order of qualifications in a filter, see the options

below.

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Changing the evaluation order of qualifications in a filter

Qualifications at the top of a filter are evaluated first. To change the

evaluation order, you can perform a number of steps depending on the final
evaluation order that you want to achieve:

• You can move qualifications up and down in the order so that they are
evaluated before or after other qualifications. Qualifications must be
indented at the same level to be able to move them above or below one
another. To do this, in MicroStrategy Web click Shift Up or Shift Down
next to the qualification. The qualification is moved up or down
accordingly.

• You can group qualifications so that they are evaluated together. The
filter must contain at least 3 qualifications to be able to group
qualifications. To do this, in MicroStrategy Web click Shift Left or Shift
Right between 2 qualifications that you want to group together. The
qualifications are grouped together and moved together either to the
right (indented) or to the left.

• When you add or remove a qualification, you are changing the evaluation
order. To add qualifications, see Types of filters, page 253 to determine
the type of qualification you want to add, then use the appropriate section
for the type of filter you choose. To remove a qualification from a filter,
open the filter, and click the Remove condition icon to the left of the
qualification you want to delete.

• When you change an operator between qualifications, you may be

changing the evaluation order of qualifications. For steps to change
operators between qualifications, see To change the operator between
filter qualifications, page 293.

Adding a filter to a report

To add one or more filters to a new or existing report, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362.

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Additional filtering functionality

The MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide provides detailed
information about the following advanced features:

• Attribute-to-attribute qualifications: Learn about creating reports that

compare two attributes, using their respective attribute forms.

• Dynamic dates: Learn how to filter on fixed offsets of the current date.

• Break by property for set qualification filters: Learn about the level at
which to restart counting rank or percent values for a metric.

• Metric-to-metric comparisons: Learn how to create a filter that

dynamically compares the values of two metrics.

• Output levels for set qualification filters: Learn how to specify the level at
which the metric is calculated for a set qualification.
• Custom expressions: Learn about creating custom metric expressions to
fit particular needs.

• Joint element lists: Learn about using attribute elements from different
attributes to filter the report result set.

• Imported filter elements: Learn how lists of data from existing files can
be imported into the filter definition.
• Report object prompts: Learn how to have the results of one report be
included in a prompt, and how to specify a search object or specify a
predefined list of objects to choose from during report execution.

Asking for user input: Prompts

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.

For example, an analyst in an accounting company needs a report designed

to show actual revenue and forecasted revenue for his company’s clients.
However, the analyst does not want to see data for every corporation his
company does business with; he is only interested in seeing revenue and
forecasts for certain corporations and only for the current year.

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The report designer can create one prompt that asks users to select which
corporations they want to see data for, and another prompt that asks users
what year they want to see data for. The report designer places the prompts
on a report. When the analyst executes the report, he is prompted to answer
these questions before the report’s SQL query is sent to the data source, and
as a result the report displays revenue and forecast numbers for only those
corporations and the year that this analyst is interested in seeing.

A report designer can include one or more prompts in any report. Prompts
are an effective tool for the report designer, because:

• Prompts allow each user who executes the report to request

individualized sets of data from your data source when he answers the
prompts and runs the report. Effectively, each user creates his own filter
for the report.

• Prompts can allow the report designer to create a smaller number of

reports overall, using more inclusive objects, rather than having to create
numerous, more specific reports that are individualized to each analyst.

• Prompts allow the report designer to ensure that the objects on a report
are the latest available objects in the project. This is possible using a
search object in a prompt. When a user launches a prompt by running a
report, the search object goes through the project and retrieves the latest
objects that fit the search criteria the report designer defined. Thus, no
matter when the prompt was created, each time a user executes the
report, the user chooses prompt answers from a list of the most
up-to-date objects available in the project, including objects that may not
have existed when the prompt was created.

• Prompts allow users to keep the objects on their saved reports up-to-date,
because users can save a prompted report so that the objects within the
prompt remain connected to the original objects within the project that
they were originally based on when the prompt was created. If objects are
modified or deleted in the project, the report can reflect those changes the
next time the prompted report is run.

With prompts, you can let the user decide how to restrict the data to be
returned from the data source.

For information on using prompts in a report to be displayed on an Apple®

iPhone® or iPad®, or an Android device, see the MicroStrategy Mobile
Design and Administration Guide.

A prompt is similar to a filter (see Filtering data on a report: Filters)

because a prompt determines the specific data to be displayed on a report.
The difference, from a report designer’s perspective, is that you create a filter

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for a report to provide a single, specific definition for the report. A filtered
report then displays the same set of data to every user who executes that
report. In contrast, a prompt dynamically modifies the contents of a report.
With prompts, users can determine the objects (attributes, attribute
elements, metrics, and so on) they want to be part of, or excluded from, the
report query that is sent to the data source. Therefore, a prompt can be seen
as a way for users to create their own filter for a given report. For example:

• Users can choose from among several existing filters to determine exactly
what filter will screen the data on the report they are about to execute. To
achieve this, create an Object prompt that contains existing filters and
place that Object prompt on a report. Then the user can choose which
filter to apply to the report.

• Prompts allow a report to have a dynamic report definition, which users

can change each time they submit the query by choosing different
answers when prompted. If you create an Attribute prompt containing
the Year attribute, users are prompted to select the year for which they
want the report results. The report can be run the first time by selecting
2005 and then a second time by selecting 2006.

Prompts and security filters

Security filters in MicroStrategy restrict a user’s ability to access or view

certain objects within a given MicroStrategy project. As a result, a security
filter can limit the data a user sees on a report, even if the report is designed
to display a broader set of data. For example, a report shows revenue data for
all geographical regions of the U.S., but a set of users may have a security
filter assigned to their MicroStrategy user accounts that limits the display of
data to only the Northeast region.

For prompts, this means that users who have a security filter assigned to
them may only see certain prompt answers to choose from when they execute
a prompted report, even when the prompt creator has explicitly defined a
broader set of prompt answers to be available to users of that report.

When describing what prompt answers will be available to users, this manual
assumes that no security filter restricts an individual user’s access to certain
objects or object elements. However, most environments use security filters,
so it is important to be aware of the potential impact of a security filter on a
user’s experience when answering a prompt. Consider this possibility when
designing a specific prompt for your users’ reporting needs.

For details on security filters, see the MicroStrategy System Administration

Guide.

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Components of a prompt
The pieces that make up a prompt control how a prompt appears and how it
functions. These components include the following:

• Answer requirement: This component lets you determine whether users

will be required to answer the prompt or an answer will be optional. If an
answer is required, a report with this prompt cannot be executed until an
answer is provided.

 Keep in mind that, because a report with a required prompt cannot

be executed until an answer is provided, a report with this type of
prompt is not a good choice to be subscribed to. This is because the
subscription will be unable to answer the required prompt and
thus unable to execute the report. The subscription is then
automatically invalidated and deleted. To avoid this scenario,
always add a default prompt answer when you make an answer
required.

• Default prompt answers: This component lets you include a pre-selected

answer for the prompt, which the user can then accept, replace with a
different answer, or accept and add more answers.

• Personal answers: This component lets a user save prompt answers for a
specific prompt, and then reuse the answers on any report that uses the
prompt. Personal answers are saved for each prompt and each user, but
they can be used on different reports. Allowing users to save personal
answers can help reduce the storage space taken up by saved static
reports.

• Title and instructions: This component lets you provide a useful name for
the prompt, which can significantly impact how straightforward or
complex a user finds prompts to be. You can also include instructions on
how to use the prompt.

Consider your users’ needs as well as the purpose of the report and the
objects on it when you decide on these options.

These prompt components are defined from the Create Prompt page. See
Creating a prompt, page 305 for steps to access the Create Prompt page.
Each prompt component is described below.

 Ifmake
you plan to apply a schedule to a prompted report, the decisions you
about answer requirements and default answers will affect how
the report is filtered when it is automatically executed on schedule.
For a table showing how various combinations of these options affect

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how a scheduled report is filtered when executed, see the Advanced

Prompts chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Answer requirements

You can either require users to answer a prompt when they execute a report,
or you can make an answer optional.

• Required: A required prompt means at least one prompt answer must be

selected from the available choices, or the report cannot be executed.

• Optional: An optional prompt does not require a prompt answer to be

selected. The report can be executed without any input from the user.

If you determine that a prompt must be answered, consider also providing a

default answer. Default answers allow users to execute prompted reports
quickly because they can simply accept the defaults. Default answers are
especially useful if you have a large number of users of a given report who
will likely choose the same answer for the prompt. See Default prompt
answers, page 300.

To specify whether an answer is required or optional, select the Prompt

answer is required check box on the New Prompt page. See the appropriate
procedure below for the type of prompt you want to create, for steps to select
this setting when creating a prompt.

Default prompt answers

You can specify default answers for prompts. Users can then do one of the
following:

• Execute the report using the default answer(s)

• Select a different answer

• Keep the default answer and add additional answers

Providing default answers allows users to execute prompted reports more

quickly, because they can simply accept the defaults with a single click and
run the report. Default answers are particularly useful if a large percentage of
your users will answer the prompt the same way. A common example is a
prompt on the Year attribute, from which users can choose the attribute
element (for example, 1998, 2005, or 2006) they want to see data for. If
many users will choose the current year every time they run the report, then

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providing the current year as the default answer can save users time.
Additional scenarios where default prompt answers can be useful:

• If a user subscribes to a report. This is common for mobile users. When

the subscription is delivered to a user’s mobile device, the prompts are
answered automatically using the default answers defined by the
designer. So, the mobile user can simply open his device and view the
executed report.

• If a report is being used as the destination of a link in a widget, document,

or report (the source of the link). When the user clicks the link to a report
from the source, the default answer defined by the designer allows the
link to directly open the destination report without requiring the user to
answer prompts before they can see the report.

If default answers are not provided for prompts, users must take the time to
answer each prompt question individually, unless answers are not required.
The default prompt answer is always displayed when a value prompt is used,
even if the default prompt answer was cleared and then the report is
reprompted.

You can determine whether to have prompts in a report automatically

answered when the report is run, using default prompt answers.

To specify a default prompt answer

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a prompted report. For steps to include a

prompt on a report, see Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or
filter, page 367.

2 From the toolbar, select Run Report.

3 Select the answer that you want to save as the default prompt answer and
click Run Report to execute the report.

4 Click Save As. The Save Options dialog box opens.

5 To save the current prompt answers as the default prompt answers, click
Advanced Options and then select the Set the current prompt
answers to be the default prompt answers check box. For more
information on the other available options while saving a prompted
report, see Saving a report, page 382.

6 Click OK. Your selections are applied to the report and it is saved.

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This sets the prompt answers that you selected while answering the
prompted report, as the default prompt answers to be used the next time the
report is run.

Personal answers

You can allow personal answers, so that a user can save prompt answers for a
specific prompt, and then reuse the answers on any report that the prompt is
used on.

Personal answers can save time, for example, when a prompt answer
involves complicated metric qualifications. Allowing users to save personal
answers can help reduce the storage space taken up by saved static reports.
Personal answers also provide consistency, to ensure that the same prompt
answers are used across a number of reports.

 Personal answers are saved for each prompt and each user, but they
can be used on different reports. Users can save prompt answers
without having to save the report itself.

When you create a prompt, you can allow no, one, or multiple personal
answers:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• One: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When the
prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the personal
answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or add or delete
selections. He can save his changes as a new personal answer, but only
one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.
• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved, allowing
different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is used again
(on this report or a different one), the personal answers are available. The
user can select one of them, or answer the prompt manually.

 Inpersonal
MicroStrategy Web, while creating a prompt, you can allow
answers for the prompt, if the administrator has enabled
personal answers in the default settings for prompts. An
administrator can change this default setting for prompts from the
Preferences Menu.

Examples of each option follow. While they are simple examples, they
illustrate how the different types of personal answers work.

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Example: No personal answers

Create an attribute element list prompt (see To create an Attribute Element

List prompt, page 327 for steps) on Region, and do not allow personal
answers (select None for the Personal answers allowed option). Name the
prompt No personal answers.

Create a report with Region, the Revenue metric, and the No personal
answers prompt. Execute the report, and select Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
Southeast at the prompt. Save the report as a prompted report rather than a
static one (select the Keep report prompted check box in the Save As dialog
box; for more information see Saving reports with prompts, page 186).

Re-execute the report. You are not able to select a saved personal answer
from your previous report execution, but instead you must enter your
prompt answers again.

Example: Single personal answer

Create an attribute element list prompt on Region, and allow a single

personal answer. Name the prompt Single personal answer.

Create a report with Region, the Revenue metric, and the Single personal
answer prompt. Execute the report and select Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
Southeast at the prompt. Select the Remember this answer check box,
which saves your selections as a personal answer. Save the report as a
prompted report.

 ItHowever,
is not required to save a report in order to save the personal answer.
save the report for this example.

Re-execute the report. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast are displayed

automatically as the default answer. You can continue executing the report or
change the prompt selections by adding or deleting regions. Delete all the
regions from the prompt answers, and replace them with Southeast,
Southwest, and South. Do not clear the Remember this answer check box.
These regions are now saved as the personal answer.

Re-execute the report. Southeast, Southwest, and South are displayed

automatically as the default answer. Delete all the regions from the prompt
answers, and replace them with just Central. Clear the Remember this
answer check box. The personal answer is now cleared.

Re-execute the report. Since no personal answer exists, no prompt answers

are displayed. You must enter your prompt answers manually.

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Example: Multiple personal answers

Create an attribute qualification prompt on Region, and allow multiple

personal answers.

Create a report with Region, the Revenue metric, and the prompt that you
created above. Execute the report, and select Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and
Southeast at the prompt. Save the prompt answer (select the Save this
answer when report is run check box), naming it Eastern Regions. Save
the report as a prompted report.

 ItHowever,
is not required to save a report in order to save the personal answer.
save the report for this example.

Re-execute the report. No default prompt answers are displayed, but you can
select Eastern Regions, the personal answer that you created previously, by
clicking the Load Answers icon. Instead, select Southeast, Southwest, and
South for prompt answers. Save them as a personal answer, naming it
Southern Regions. Set this personal answer as the default (select the Set as
default check box).

Re-execute the report. Southeast, Southwest, and South are displayed as the
default prompt answers, since they were defined as the default above. Clear
the prompt answers, and replace them with Central. Do not save it as a
personal answer.

Re-execute the report. Southeast, Southwest, and South are displayed as the
prompt answers, since they are still the default. You can select Eastern
Regions or Southern Regions (the current selection) as personal answers.

When you click Load Answers, you can view the personal answers created
previously. You can delete and rename these personal prompt answers by
clicking the More Options link. You cannot edit the contents of personal
answers.

Title and instructions

You can customize a prompt’s title and instructions, which are displayed to
users when they are answering the prompt.

Think about a name and instructions carefully, with your users in mind. The
title and instructions you provide for a prompt can make the difference
between users finding prompted report execution confusing and users
completing rapid report execution and displaying exactly the data they want
to see.

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Example of an ineffective prompt title and instructions

You create an Attribute Element prompt. You select the Year attribute, from
which the user will be asked to select one or more attribute elements (years)
to see data displayed for. You name this prompt “Attribute element prompt”
and you provide the following instructions: “Choose an attribute element.”

This title and instructions are not useful to the majority of users, who likely
do not know what an attribute element is. A better choice is described below.

Example of a useful prompt title and instructions

You create an Attribute Element prompt. You select the Year attribute, from
which the user will be asked to select one or more attribute elements (years)
to see data displayed for. You name this prompt “Year(s)” and you provide
the following instructions: “Select one or more years for which you want to
see data.”

This title makes sense to all users and defines the prompt generally enough
so it can be easily used by report designers on other reports. The instructions
are useful not only because it uses language that users will understand, but
also because it is more than just a repeat of the title. It provides basic
information to the user who may never have used a prompt before, and it
emphasizes that more than one year can be chosen, in case a user missed that
information at the top of the prompt screen.

You can determine the title and instructions for a prompt on the New Prompt
page. See the appropriate procedure below for the type of prompt you want
to create, for steps to enter a title and instructions when creating a prompt.

Creating a prompt
You create a prompt for a report when you want to let the user decide what
restrictions the data must meet to be displayed on the report.

Prompts can be placed on a report, and they then become part of the report
definition. They can also be used in a filter, metric, or custom group.

 This chapter covers prompts placed on reports, filters, and metrics.

Prompts used on custom groups are covered in the Advanced
Prompts chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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The image below shows the Create Prompt page, where you select the type of
prompt you want to create. See Types of prompts, page 307 for details on
each prompt type.

To access the Create Prompt page

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens with a list of the types of prompts that you can create.

2 To create a new prompt, click on the type of prompt that you want to
create.

See the sections that follow for the type of prompt you want to create. You
can see specific details on each option in each page of the wizard by clicking
Help.

After you create a prompt, you then place the prompt on any report so it
becomes part of the report’s definition and any user who executes that report

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must interact with the prompt. For steps to include a prompt on a report, see
Adding a prompt to a report, page 348.

Types of prompts
The correct prompt type to create depends on what report objects you want
users to be able to base a filter on to filter data.

Prompt Type Prompt Name What Data it Allows Users to Define

Object prompts Object prompt Users can use this prompt to add more data to a report.
This type of prompt Users select objects (such as attributes or metrics) they
allows users to select want to add to the report. Users can also choose from
objects to include in a among a selection of filters, to apply a filter that is most
report, such as useful for their analysis purposes.
attributes, metrics, or For steps, see Creating Object prompts, page 338.
filters.

Hierarchy Hierarchy Qualification Users can select prompt answers from one or more
Qualification Prompt attribute elements from one or more attributes. The
Prompts attribute elements they select are used to filter data
This type of prompt displayed on the report. This prompt lets you give users
allows users to the largest number of attribute elements to choose from
determine how the when they answer the prompt to define their filtering
report's data is criteria.
filtered based on For example, on a report displaying profit forecasts, if
attributes in a the prompt lets users select from the Product hierarchy,
hierarchy. one user might choose to see forecasts for certain
electronic products, while another user might select
different electronics products, or all media products.
For steps, see Creating Hierarchy Qualification
prompts, page 313.

Attribute Attribute Qualification Users can select prompt answers from a list of attribute
Qualification Prompt elements from a single attribute. This prompt is more
Prompts restrictive than the Hierarchy prompt, because the user
This type of prompt has fewer attribute elements to select answers from.
allows users to For steps, see Creating Attribute Qualification prompts,
determine how the page 319.
report's data is
filtered based on
attribute form.

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Prompt Type Prompt Name What Data it Allows Users to Define

Attribute Element Attribute Element List Users can select prompt answers from a limited list of
List Prompts Prompt specific attribute elements. This prompt is the most
This type of prompt restrictive of the Hierarchy Qualification, Attribute
allows users to Qualification, and Attribute Element List prompts,
determine how the because the user has the fewest number of attribute
report's data is elements to select answers from.
filtered based on For steps, see Creating Attribute Element List prompts,
attribute element. page 326.

Metric Qualification Metric Qualification Users can define a metric qualification, which
Prompts Prompt determines what data should be displayed for one or
This type of prompt more specific metrics on the report.
allows users to For steps, see Creating Metric Qualification prompts,
determine how the page 331.
report's data is
filtered based on
metrics.

Value prompts Date prompt Users enter a specific date for which to see data. This
This prompt type lets prompt is used in a filter.
users select a single
Numeric prompt Users enter a specific number, up to 15 digits, which is
value, such as a date
then used as part of a filter, or within a metric, to look for
or a specific text
specific numeric data.
string, and filter
report data based on If a user enters more than 15 digits for a numeric
their selection. prompt, the data is converted to scientific notation. If
precision is needed beyond 15 digits, you should use a
For steps, see Big Decimal value prompt instead.
Creating Value
prompts, page 344. Text prompt Users enter a word or phrase, which is then used as
part of a filter to look for specific data with that text.

Big Decimal prompt Users can enter up to 38 digits, to search for numeric
data with the Big Decimal data type assigned to it.

Long prompt Users enter up to 10 digits, to search for numeric data.

Level prompts Level prompt Levels are explained in Level of calculation for a metric,
This prompt type page 222.
allows users to Level prompts are covered in the Advanced Prompts
specify the level of chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
calculation for a Guide.
metric.

Most of the prompt types in the table above are explained in detail in the
sections that follow. Level prompts are covered in the Advanced Prompts
chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

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Choosing the right prompt type

Use the table below as a reference when choosing which prompt to create, to
help you provide the reporting results that your users need.

User Needs Solutions

Restrict the amount of Prompts used on filters in a report are more restrictive than other prompts in
data displayed on a terms of the number of attribute elements from which a user can select prompt
report answers. For details on prompts used on a filter, see Filtering data on an
attribute, attribute form, attribute element, or metric, page 311.

Increase the amount • Object prompts are more inclusive in terms of the data that is displayed on the
of data displayed on a resulting report, because the user can select additional objects to include on
report the report. To create an Object prompt, see Filtering data based on metrics,
attributes, or other objects: Object prompts, page 336.
• In general, the more answers an analyst is allowed to select for a prompt, the
more information is displayed on the report. The maximum number of
answers a user can provide is determined by one component of all prompts,
called an answer requirement. You can allow users to select more answers for
a prompt by setting or changing the maximum number of answers. For details,
see Answer requirements, page 300.

Answer prompts that • The Attribute Element List prompt and the Object prompt are generally the
are easier to use simplest prompts for a user to answer. Users simply click one or more objects
they want to see data for and execute the report. The user does not have to
create a filtering definition as with other prompts.
• Any prompt increases the complexity for a user when running a report. This
can be alleviated by providing good descriptions for the prompts so that users
are clear about the questions they are answering. For an example of an
effective prompt description, see Title and instructions, page 304.

Choose a report filter Users can choose from among several existing filters to determine exactly what
from among a filter will screen the data on the report they are about to execute. To do this,
selection of filters create the filters you want users to be able to choose from, then create an
Object prompt made up of existing filters, and then place that Object prompt on a
report. To create an Object prompt, see Filtering data based on metrics,
attributes, or other objects: Object prompts, page 336.

Select a prompt You can use a search object in most prompts. A search object will search for and
answer from the most display specific objects at the moment the user accesses the report and the
up-to-date objects in prompt appears. This lets users select their answers from the most up-to-date
the project hierarchies, attributes, metrics, or other objects in the project. To do this, create
a search object, then during prompt creation choose the search object rather
than choosing specific attributes or other objects to prompt the user with. For
steps to create a search object, see the prompt creation procedure below for the
prompt you want to create. Steps to create a search object are within the prompt
creation steps.

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User Needs Solutions

Restrict the number of The three Hierarchy and Attribute prompts are designed to be increasingly
attribute elements restrictive in the number of objects they allow users to select answers from.
users can choose These three prompts are listed below, in increasing order of restrictiveness:
from when answering • Hierarchy Qualification Prompt: Allows users the widest number of objects to
a prompt choose answers from.
• Attribute Qualification Prompt: More restrictive than the Hierarchy prompt.
Allows fewer objects for users to choose answers from.
• Attribute Element List Prompt: The most restrictive of the three prompts.
Allows the fewest objects for users to choose answers from.

Select from a The Attribute Element List prompt provides a filter option. You can use this
reasonable subset of option to create a filter that will display to users a specific list of attribute
a long list of attribute elements, based on the condition defined in the filter. For example, you create a
elements, for filter to display the top 20 customers in terms of revenue or the top 10
example, a list of employees in terms of sales. Place this filter in the Attribute Element prompt,
customer names and place the prompt on a report. To create an Attribute Element prompt, see
Creating Attribute Element List prompts, page 326.

Stand-alone prompt vs. prompt as part of report or filter

This chapter primarily describes how to create stand-alone prompts. A

stand-alone prompt is a prompt that is created as an independent
MicroStrategy object. A stand-alone prompt can then be used on many
different reports, as well as on filters, metrics, and other objects, and can be
used by other report designers. A stand-alone prompt gives report designers
flexibility.

However, in MicroStrategy, prompts can also be created as an intrinsic part

of a given 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 an intrinsic 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.

No matter how a prompt is created, whether stand-alone or as part of

another object, each approach allows you to create most prompt types
described in this chapter. Both stand-alone prompts and prompts created as
part of another object accomplish the same results: the user is presented
with one or more questions to answer, and the answers determine the data
used when calculating the results displayed on a report.

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Filtering data on an attribute, attribute form, attribute element,

or metric
These types of prompts let users define the filtering criteria for a report.
While answering the prompt, the user actually goes through the process of
creating a filter for the report. You create the prompt to define constraints for
which objects can be used to create the filter. Filtering criteria might include
certain attributes in a hierarchy, specific attribute forms or attribute
elements, or certain metrics.

For example, if you create a Hierarchy Qualification prompt, you can specify
a hierarchy from which users can select attributes or attribute elements to
create a filter with. (The option to create this prompt in the Create Prompt
page is called “Hierarchy Qualification Prompt”.) Users are presented with a
prompt similar to the following image when they execute the report:

When creating the prompt shown above, the report designer chose the Time
hierarchy, so users could choose any attribute within that hierarchy for
which to see data. The prompt shown above is asking the user to select from
the attributes listed, or the user can also browse to a specific attribute’s
elements and select one or more of those elements. Then the user drags a

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desired attribute or element into the filter’s Definition pane on the

right-hand side. (Alternatively, the user can use the Attribute Qualification
pane to select an attribute for the filter.) By being able to interact with this
prompt, each user can create his own filter with which to screen the data that
appears on the resulting report.

You can add these types of prompts to a stand-alone filter, so that the prompt
is presented to any users who run a report on which that filter is placed.
Alternatively, you can place these types of prompts directly on a report.
Either way, these types of prompts allow users to specify conditions that data
must meet to be included in report results.

For a table of where to use all prompts, see Reports: Adding prompts to a
report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can create the following types of prompts:

• Hierarchy Qualification Prompt: This prompt lets the user create a filter
by selecting from any attribute or attribute element that is part of one or
more hierarchies you specify. The attribute elements the user selects then
become the filter for the report when it is sent to your data source. To
create a Hierarchy Qualification prompt, see Creating Hierarchy
Qualification prompts, page 313.

• Attribute Qualification prompt: This prompt enables the user to filter

(or qualify) the report based on the attribute forms or the attribute
elements of the specified attribute. To create an Attribute Qualification
prompt, see Creating Attribute Qualification prompts, page 319.

• Attribute Element List prompt: This prompt enables the user to filter
the report based on a specified set of attribute elements from a given
attribute. To create an Attribute Element List prompt, see Creating
Attribute Element List prompts, page 326.

• Metric Qualification prompt: This type of prompt enables the user to

filter (or qualify) the report based on a specific metric. To create a Metric
Qualification prompt, see Creating Metric Qualification prompts,
page 331.

The procedures for creating each of these types of prompts are described
below. After you have created a prompt, you can incorporate it into a report
as described in Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,
page 367.

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Creating Hierarchy Qualification prompts

The Hierarchy Qualification prompt allows users to create their own report
filter using attributes and attribute elements from:

• A specific hierarchy

• Specific hierarchies returned by a search object

• All hierarchies in the project

For an explanation of what a hierarchy is, see Hierarchies, page 116.

For example, analysts want to be able to monitor the aging of various

accounts receivable transactions by customer. You create a report with the
Customer attribute and various Accounts Receivable-related metrics on it.
(The report and its metrics are shown below.) You want users to be able to
select any corporations or parent corporations to view past-due amounts for,
when they execute the report.

You create a Hierarchy Qualification prompt which asks the user to choose
an attribute or attribute elements from the Organization hierarchy. Then you
add the Hierarchy Qualification prompt to the report.

When you execute the report and respond to the prompt by choosing the
Global Enterprises HQ corporation, the report appears as shown in the
following image. (This image shows only part of the resulting report.)

The Hierarchy Qualification prompt allows users to select from the widest
number of attribute elements when they are choosing prompt answers to
define their filtering criteria. The Attribute Qualification prompt is more
restrictive, and the Attribute Element List prompt is the most restrictive,
allowing users to choose from the fewest number of attribute elements to
define their filter criteria.

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To create a Hierarchy Qualification prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Hierarchy Qualification Prompt. The New Prompt page opens.

To select the hierarchy

Select the hierarchy which contains the attributes the user will be
prompted to choose from as he creates the filter for the report.

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.

Click Select Hierarchy, select the hierarchy or specify the name of the
hierarchy, and then click OK.

• Use a predefined list of hierarchies: Select this option to allow the

user to choose attributes from a list of hierarchies that you select.
– To add hierarchies, click Add, select the hierarchy or specify the
name of the hierarchy, and then click OK.

– To delete a hierarchy from the list, highlight it and click Remove.

– To remove all the hierarchies from the list, click Clear.

• 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.

Click Select Search, select the search object or specify the name of
the object, and then click OK.

To determine the attribute forms which are displayed to the user

Once users select a hierarchy, the prompt displays the related attributes
and attribute elements for users to select their filter criteria from. The
attribute forms can also be displayed.

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An attribute form is a descriptive aspect of an attribute. Most attributes

have at least two forms, ID and description (Desc). For example, the
Product attribute has an attribute form called ID, which is made up of ID
numbers that represent each attribute element (each product). The
attribute form Last Name contains the last names for each attribute
element, such as each customer in the Customer attribute, or each
employee in the Employee attribute. Your project designer determines
which attribute forms users see directly in a report’s results (the report
display forms), and which attribute forms users can see displayed in the
Object Browser, for browsing purposes (the browse forms). You can
select which of these display types users can select from when they
answer the prompt.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

4 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

5 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To restrict the number of prompt answers.

6 To require users to answer the prompt before running the report, specify
whether the prompt requires an answer. Select the Prompt answer is
required check box. If you require an answer, it is a good idea to also
provide a default answer, otherwise a subscription to this report will fail.

7 Set the maximum and/or minimum number of prompt answers allowed,

if desired. Select the Minimum number of qualifications and/or the
Maximum number of qualifications check boxes, and type the numbers
in the fields.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For
more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

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8 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• One: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or
add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal
answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,

allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

9 On the Style tab, from the Display style drop-down list, specify a
presentation style such as Tree or Shopping Cart for the prompt.
Depending upon the option you select, the prompt is displayed to the user
when the report is executed.

The following image shows the Tree display style:

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The following image shows the Shopping Cart display style:

10 To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are a fixed size, select
the Fixed textbox width and/or the Fixed textbox height check boxes,
and specify the size of the prompt's text fields and options in the fields.

• Specifying the size of the textbox can be beneficial when users answer
prompts on a smaller screen of a mobile device.

11 To determine how prompt options are arranged, from the Orientation

drop-down list, select Vertical or Horizontal.

12 To determine the number of prompt answers displayed in a row or

column (depending on alignment), select the Items per column/row
check box and enter the number in the field.

13 You can determine whether to allow users to use a search box to locate
prompt answers. Searching for objects allows analysts to quickly locate
specific objects to use to answer the prompt. From the Show search box
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
• To display the search box, select True.

• To not display a search box, select False.

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14 If the search box is enabled, you can ensure that users use the search box
to locate answers, by selecting the Make search required check box.

 IfUseyoufolder
are using the Shopping Cart display style, you can select the
structure check box to display the prompt choices in a
folder structure. This option, available for search objects only, is
useful when the same object with the same name is saved in
multiple folders.

• Select the Do not show empty folders check box if you do not want
the search result to display empty folders.

• To allow users to navigate above the root folder when searching, select
the Allow navigation above search root check box.

To specify how qualifications are displayed in the prompt

15 On the Qualification tab, determine the types of qualification expressions

allowed in the prompt by selecting an option from the Expression type
allowed drop-down list.

16 Determine the default condition (for example, Select or Qualify) that is

displayed in the prompt by selecting an option from the Default
expression type drop-down list.

17 Determine the default qualification operator (for example, Greater than

or Less than) that is displayed in the prompt by selecting an option from
the Default condition operator drop-down list.

18 Determine how many elements are listed in each prompt answer list by
selecting the Maximum number of elements per list check box and
entering the number in the field.

19 To allow users to import a list of attribute elements from which they can
choose, select the Allow element import check box.

20 Determine the default logical operator that is used between conditions by

selecting an option from the Default operator between conditions
drop-down list.

21 To allow users to modify expressions, select the Allow modification of

the logical operator check box.

• To ensure that users can only use a single condition operator (AND/
OR) between all of the conditions in an expression, select the Use a
single logical operator between all conditions option.

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To ensure that users can choose a default operator to use between each
condition, select the Allow the user to set independent logical
operators between conditions option.

To save your prompt

22 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

You can now add your new prompt to a report or filter. For a table showing
how to add each prompt type to a report, metric, or filter, see Reports:
Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Creating Attribute Qualification prompts

The Attribute Qualification prompt can be used to create a more focused

prompt than the Hierarchy Qualification prompt. You determine a single
attribute from which each user who executes the report can select elements
to define his report filter. You can also let users select an attribute from a set
of attributes, and then select elements from their chosen attribute.

For example, your report contains the attribute Region and the metric
Revenue. You want users to be able to select specific geographical regions of
the country for which to see revenue data, from among all regions.

You create an Attribute Qualification prompt, which prompts the user to

choose attribute elements from the Region attribute. Using the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project data, you might choose the following default
answers for the prompt:

• Northeast

• Northwest

• Southeast
• Southwest

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When you apply this prompt to the report and execute the report using the
default answers, the report appears as shown in the following image.

The Attribute Qualification prompt is more restrictive than a Hierarchy

Qualification prompt but less restrictive than an Attribute Element List
prompt. The Hierarchy Qualification prompt allows users to select from the
widest number of attribute elements when they are choosing prompt
answers to define their filtering criteria. The Attribute Element List prompt
is the most restrictive, allowing users to choose from the fewest number of
attribute elements to define their filter criteria.

To create an Attribute Qualification prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Attribute Qualification Prompt. The New Prompt page opens.

To select the attribute from which the user can create the filter

You must determine which attribute will be displayed to the user when
the user is prompted. (Alternatively, you can present the users with a list
of attributes from which the user selects one attribute.) The user then
selects elements from that attribute to be part of the filter he creates to
filter data for the report.

3 On the Definition tab, choose one of the following options:

• Choose an attribute: You can present the user with a specific

attribute to select elements from.

Click Select Attribute, select the attribute or specify the name of the
attribute, then click OK.

• Use a predefined list of attributes: Select this option to allow the

user to choose attributes from a list of attributes that you select.

Click Add, select the attributes, then click OK.

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
To delete an attribute from the list, select the attribute, then click
Remove.
 To remove all the attributes from the list, click Clear.

• Use the results of a 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. Use this option to present the user with a list of attributes,
from which he can choose one.

Click Select Search, select the object or specify the name of the
object, then click OK.

To determine which attribute forms to display to the user

The prompt displays the related attribute elements for users to select
their filter criteria from. The attribute’s forms can also be displayed.
An attribute form is a descriptive aspect of an attribute. Most attributes
have at least two forms, ID and description (Desc). For example, the
Product attribute has an attribute form called ID, which is made up of ID
numbers that represent each attribute element (each product). The
attribute form Last Name contains the last names for each attribute
element, such as each customer in the Customer attribute, or each
employee in the Employee attribute. Your project designer determines
which attribute forms users see directly in a report’s results (the report
display forms), and which attribute forms users can see displayed in the
Object Browser, for browsing purposes (the browse forms). You can
select which of these display types users can select from when they
answer the prompt.

4 From the Displayed forms drop-down list, select one of the following
options:

• All attribute forms: This option allows users to see and select from
attribute elements within all attribute forms. It is the default choice.

• Browse forms: This option allows users to see and select from only
the attribute forms defined as browse forms. All attribute forms
defined as browse forms are displayed in the Data Explorer when the
user browses the related attribute.

• Report display forms: This option lets users see only the attribute
forms defined as report display forms. All attribute forms defined as
report display forms are included in report results for a report that
uses the related attribute.

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• Custom display forms: This option allows you to specify a

customized set of attribute forms to display to users by selecting each
attribute form from a list. In the list of attribute forms in the bottom
left, select the attribute forms that you want to display, then click the
Add icon to add the attribute forms to the list on the right. You can
select more than one attribute form at the same time by pressing
CTRL and clicking additional attribute forms. This option is available
if the Choose an attribute option above is selected.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

5 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

6 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To restrict the number of prompt answers.

7 You can specify whether the user is required to answer the prompt before
running the report. To require users to answer the prompt, select the
Prompt Answer is Required check box.

8 Set the maximum and/or minimum number of prompt answers allowed,

if desired. Select the Minimum number of qualifications and/or the
Maximum number of qualifications check boxes, and enter the
numbers in the fields.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For
more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

9 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or

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add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal

answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,

allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

10 On the Style tab, from the Display style drop-down list, specify a
presentation style, such as Textbox, for the prompt. Depending upon the
option you select, the prompt is displayed to the user when the report is
executed.

The following image shows the Textbox display style

The following image shows the Radio Button display style

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The following image shows the Pull Down display style

The following image shows the List display style

11 To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are a fixed size, select
the Fixed textbox width and/or the Fixed textbox height check boxes,
and specify the size of the prompt's text fields and options in the fields.
• Specifying the size of the textbox can be beneficial when users answer
prompts on a smaller screen of a mobile device.

12 To determine how prompt options are arranged, from the Orientation

drop-down list, select Vertical or Horizontal.

• To determine the number of prompt answers displayed in a row or

column (depending on alignment), select the Items per column/row
check box and enter the number in the field.

13 You can determine whether to allow users to use a search box to locate
prompt answers. Searching for objects allows analysts to quickly locate
specific objects to use to answer the prompt. From the Show search box
drop-down list, select one of the following options:

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• To display the search box, select True.

• To not display a search box, select False.

 The Show search box option is not available if you are using the
Textbox display style.

14 If you are using the Shopping Cart display style, you can select the Use
folder structure check box to display the prompt choices in a folder
structure. This option, available for search objects only, is useful when
the same object with the same name is saved in multiple folders.

• Select the Do not show empty folders check box if you do not want
the search result to display empty folders.

• To allow users to navigate above the root folder when searching, select
the Allow navigation above search root check box.

 For an Attribute Qualification prompt that uses a search object

and the Tree display style, the Use folder structure check box is
selected and cannot be changed.

To specify how qualifications are displayed in the prompt

15 On the Qualification tab, determine the types of qualification

expressions allowed in the prompt by selecting an option from the
Expression type allowed drop-down list.

16 Determine the default condition (for example, Select or Qualify) that is

displayed in the prompt by selecting an option from the Default
expression type drop-down list.

17 Determine the default condition operator (for example, Greater than or

Less than) that is displayed in the prompt by selecting an option from the
Default condition operator drop-down list.

18 Determine how many elements are listed in each prompt answer list by
selecting the Maximum number of elements per list check box and
entering the number in the field.

19 To allow users to import a list of attribute elements from which they can
choose, select the Allow element import check box.

20 To allow users to browse the elements in attribute qualification, select the

Allow element browsing in attribute qualification check box.

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21 Determine the default logical operator that is used between conditions by

selecting an option from the Default operator between conditions
drop-down list.

22 To allow users to modify expressions, select the Allow modification of

the logical operator check box.

• To ensure that users can only use a single condition operator (AND/
OR) between all of the conditions in an expression, select the Use a
single logical operator between all conditions option.

• To ensure that users can choose a default operator to use between

each condition, select the Allow the user to set independent logical
operators between conditions option.

To save your prompt

23 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

You can now add your new prompt to a report, metric, or filter. For a table
showing how to add each prompt type to a report, metric, or filter, see
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Creating Attribute Element List prompts

The Attribute Element List prompt allows a user to choose from a list of
attribute elements to be included in a filter or custom group. This is generally
the simplest prompt for users to answer, because it offers the fewest number
of answers to choose from and does not require the user to create a filtering
“statement”.

You define the specific attribute elements to be displayed in the prompt, by

using one of the following methods:

• Selecting all elements associated with an attribute

• Creating a filter that returns a limited list of elements from one attribute

• Selecting specific attribute elements one by one

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For example, your report contains the attribute Region and the metric
Revenue. You want users to be able to select specific geographical regions of
the country for which to see revenue data, from among only eastern U.S.
regions.

You create an attribute element list prompt, which prompts the user to
choose from three attribute elements in the Region attribute. Using the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project data, you might use all three regions as
default answers for the prompt:

• Northeast

• Mid-Atlantic

• Southeast

When you apply this prompt to the report and execute the report using the
default answers, the report appears as shown in the following image.

The Attribute Element List prompt is the most restrictive, allowing users to
choose from the fewest number of attribute elements to define their filter
criteria. The Hierarchy Qualification prompt allows users to select from the
widest number of attribute elements when they are choosing prompt
answers to define their filtering criteria. The Attribute Qualification prompt
is more restrictive than the Hierarchy Qualification prompt, but less
restrictive than the Attribute Element List prompt.

To create an Attribute Element List prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Attribute Element List. The New Prompt page opens.

To determine the attribute whose elements the user will be able to choose
from

The prompt will display the related attribute elements for users to select
their filter criteria from.

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3 On the Definition tab, click Select Attribute. Select the attribute whose
elements are displayed in the prompt and click OK. Users select their
filter criteria from a list of these attribute elements.

To define the specific elements the user will be able to choose from

4 Choose one of the following options:

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

• Use a pre-defined list of elements: This option lets you select

specific attribute elements to display to the user.

– Click Add, select the elements, then click OK.

– To delete an element from the list, select the element, then click
Remove.

– To remove all the elements from the list, click Clear.

• Use a filter to reduce the number of elements: This option is useful

for attributes with a large number of elements, such as Customer or
Employee. You can create a filter that returns a specific set of
customers, for example, the top 100 customers this month.

Click Select Filter, select the filter or specify the name of the filter,
then click OK.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

5 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

6 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To restrict the number of prompt answers

7 You can specify whether the user is required to answer the prompt before
running the report. To require users to answer the prompt, select the
Prompt Answer is Required check box.

8 Set the maximum and/or minimum number of prompt answers allowed,

if desired. Select the Minimum number of answers and/or the

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Maximum number of answers check boxes, and enter the numbers in

the fields.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For
more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

9 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or
add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal
answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.
• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,
allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

10 On the Style tab, you can determine the presentation style used to display
the prompt to the user. The default is Shopping Cart. From the Display
style drop-down list, select one of the following:

• Radio Button: This prompt lets users select an attribute element

option by selecting a radio button.
• Check Box: This prompt lets users specify attribute elements by
selecting check boxes.

• Pull Down: This prompt lets users select an answer from a drop-down
list.

• List: This prompt lets users select prompt answers from a list.

• Shopping Cart: This prompt lets users add attribute elements to a list
of selected attribute elements.

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• Calendar: This prompt lets users answer the prompt by selecting a

date on a calendar. This option is available if a date/time attribute
such as Month of Year is selected.

• Barcode Reader: This prompt lets users answer the prompt by

scanning or typing a bar code.

• Geo Location: This prompt lets users filter the attribute element list
based on their current geographical location.

 Styles for prompts for mobile devices, including the Calendar,

Barcode Reader, and Geo Location display styles, display when the
prompt is viewed on a mobile device with MicroStrategy Mobile.
Certain styles are available for specific types of Attribute Element
List prompts. For more information on displaying prompts for
mobile devices, see the Allowing users to filter data: prompts
section of the Mobile Design and Administration Guide.

11 To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are a fixed size, select
the Fixed textbox width and/or Fixed textbox height check boxes, and
specify the size of the prompt's text fields and options in the fields.

• Specifying the size of the textbox can be beneficial when users answer
prompts on a smaller screen of a mobile device.

12 To determine how prompt options are arranged, from the Orientation

drop-down list, select Vertical or Horizontal.

• To determine the number of prompt answers displayed in a row or

column (depending on alignment), select the Items per column/row
check box and type a number in the field.

13 You can determine whether to allow users to use a search box to locate
prompt answers. Searching for objects allows analysts to quickly locate
specific objects to use to answer the prompt. From the Show search box
drop-down list, select one of the following options:
• To display the search box, select True.

• To not display a search box, select False.

14 To require using the search box to locate prompt answers, select the
Make search required check box.

15 If you are using the Shopping Cart display style, you can select the Use
folder structure check box to display the prompt choices in a folder
structure. This option, available for search objects, is useful when the
same object with the same name is saved in multiple folders.

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• Select the Do not show empty folders check box if you do not want
the search result to display empty folders.

• To allow users to navigate above the root folder when searching, select
the Allow navigation above search root check box.

16 For the Barcode Reader prompt style, to specify the attribute form used to
look up item barcodes, select an attribute form from the Barcode
mapping attribute form drop-down list.

17 For the Geo Location prompt style, from the Select location mapping
level drop-down list, select the level at which you wish to filter elements
in the attribute. For example, select City to filter the attribute elements by
the current city in which the mobile device is located.

18 To select the attribute whose elements you want to filter, click Select
Attribute, browse to and select the attribute, and then click OK.

To save your prompt

19 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

You can now add your new prompt to a report, metric, or filter. For a table
showing how to add each prompt type to a report, metric, or filter, see
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Creating Metric Qualification prompts

The Metric Qualification prompt allows users to create their own instant
filter for data returned for one of the metrics on the report. You create a
Metric Qualification prompt by selecting one or more metrics. Users will be
able to define their filters based on these metrics.

For example, your report contains the attribute Region and the metric
Revenue. You want users to be able to define the amount of revenue they
want to see data for, showing any geographical region which satisfies the
user’s selected metric condition.

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You create a Metric Qualification prompt, which prompts the user to enter a
value for which all revenue data will be displayed that is greater than the
value entered by the user. Using the MicroStrategy Tutorial project data, you
might define the default answer for the prompt to be Revenue > $1,000,000.

When you apply this prompt to the report and execute the report using the
default answer, the report appears as shown in the following image.

The metric(s) you choose for the prompt do not have to appear on the report
itself. For example, a store manager needs a report to show sales data for
products whose current inventory falls below a certain count. However, the
report does not necessarily need to display inventory counts for those
products.

When answering the prompt, users can define their filters based on the
value, rank, or percentage of the metric.

To create a Metric Qualification prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Metric Qualification Prompt. The New Prompt page opens.

To select the metric(s) for which users can define their filters

The prompt will display the metric(s) on which users define their filter
criteria.

3 On the Definition tab, choose one of the following options:

• Choose a metric: Users will be able to filter their report data based
on the metric you select.

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Click Select Metric and select a specific metric or specify the name of
the metric to use in the prompt.

• Use a predefined list of metrics: Select this option to allow the user
to choose metrics from a list that you select.

Click Add, select the metrics, then click OK.

To delete a metric from the list, select the metric, then click
Remove.
 To remove all the metrics from the list, click Clear.

• Use the results of a 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.

Click Select Search, select the object or specify the name of the
object, then click OK.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

4 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

5 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To restrict the number of prompt answers.

6 You can specify whether the user is required to answer the prompt before
running the report. To require users to answer the prompt, select the
Prompt Answer is Required check box.

7 Set the maximum and/or minimum number of prompt answers allowed,

if desired. Select the Minimum number of qualifications and/or the
Maximum number of qualifications check boxes, and enter the
numbers in the fields.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For

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more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

8 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or
add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal
answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,

allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

9 On the Style tab, from the Display style drop-down list, specify a
presentation style, such as Textbox, for the prompt. Depending upon the
option you select, the prompt is displayed to the user when the report is
executed.

10 To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are a fixed size, select
the Fixed textbox width and/or the Fixed textbox height check boxes,
and specify the size of the prompt's text fields and options in the fields.
• Specifying the size of the textbox can be beneficial when users answer
prompts on a smaller screen of a mobile device.

11 To determine how prompt options are arranged, from the Orientation

drop-down list, select Vertical or Horizontal.

• To determine the number of prompt answers displayed in a row or

column (depending on alignment), select the Items per column/row
check box and enter the number in the field.

12 You can determine whether to allow users to use a search box to locate
prompt answers. Searching for objects allows analysts to quickly locate
specific objects to use to answer the prompt. From the Show search box
drop-down list, select one of the following options:

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• To display the search box, select True.

• To not display a search box, select False.

 The Show search box option is not available if you are using the
Textbox display style.

13 To show the object path (folder hierarchy), select the Use folder
structure check box. This option, available for search objects, is useful
when the same object with the same name is saved in multiple folders. If
you are using the Shopping Cart display style, you can select the check
box to display the prompt choices in a folder structure.

• Select the Do not show empty folders check box if you do not want
the search result to display empty folders.

• To allow users to navigate above the root folder when searching, select
the Allow navigation above search root check box.

 For a Metric Qualification prompt that uses a search object and the
Tree display style, the Use folder structure check box is selected
and cannot be changed.

To specify how qualifications are displayed in the prompt

14 On the Qualification tab, determine the default condition operator (for

example, Greater than or Less than) that is displayed in the prompt by
selecting an option from the Default condition operator drop-down list.

15 Determine the default logical operator that is used between conditions by

selecting an option from the Default operator between conditions
drop-down list.

16 To allow users to modify expressions, select the Allow modification of

the logical operator check box.

• To ensure that users can only use a single condition operator (AND/
OR) between all of the conditions in an expression, select the Use a
single logical operator between all conditions option.
• To ensure that users can choose a default operator to use between
each condition, select the Allow the user to set independent logical
operators between conditions option.

17 To allow users to specify the output level of metrics, select the Display
output level selector check box.

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To save your prompt

18 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

You can now add your new prompt to a report, metric, or filter. For a table
showing how to add each prompt type to a report, metric, or filter, see
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Filtering data based on metrics, attributes, or other objects:

Object prompts
Object prompts provide users the ability to add additional objects to a report.
You can let users select from almost any object available in MicroStrategy.
The objects the user selects in the prompt are placed on the report. This
essentially allows users to create their own reports, although you use the
Object prompt to control what objects they can choose to include on their
reports.

For example, you can create a prompt that allows users to choose from a list
of existing stand-alone filters to apply to the report. Or, you can create a
prompt that displays the Day, Month, Quarter, and Year attributes to users,
so the user can specify the granularity of the report. Object prompts enable
you to provide versatile reports to users.

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The Customer Distribution Trend report contains two Object prompts. The
report’s display is shown below:

The first prompt, called Demographics List, contains a set of attributes that
users select one or more answers from. Answer choices include the attributes
Customer Income Range, Customer Age Range, and Customer Gender. The
second prompt, called Psychographic List, contains another set of attributes
users can choose from. Its answer choices include the attributes Customer
Education, Customer Household Count, Customer Housing Type, Customer
Marital Status, and so on.

By separating the user’s choices into two Object prompts, the designer is able
to group the attributes according to user analysis needs. In this case, a user
can focus on customer demographics and customer psychographics
separately when the user is considering what data to see in the resulting
report. Additionally, data for various combinations of demographics and
psychographics can be compared by running the report again and answering
the prompts differently.

Object prompts can be used in many places, including the following:

• Object prompt containing attributes: Any place that can accept a list of
attributes.

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• Object prompt containing metrics: Embedded in a Set qualification filter,

as well as any place that accepts metrics.

 One prompt can contain different types of objects, such as both

metrics and attributes, or attributes and custom groups. However, if
the prompt mixes metrics with another type of object, either the
metrics or the other objects are removed when the prompt is executed
in a report. For a more detailed explanation, see the Advanced
Prompts chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

For a table of where to use all prompts, see Reports: Adding prompts to a
report, metric, or filter, page 367.

Creating Object prompts

When you create an Object prompt, you can decide whether users can select
from a specified list of MicroStrategy objects, or you can define a specific
search that presents an up-to-date set of objects for users to select from.
Including a search object in the Object prompt, rather than specifying the
exact object names, allows users to select from new objects that might not
have been part of the project when you first created the prompt.

To create an Object prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Object Prompt. The New Prompt page opens.

To create the list of objects from which the user can select

You can only use objects of one type in an Object prompt. For example,
you can include metrics or attributes in a single Object prompt, but not
both. To prompt for multiple object types in the same report, you must
create an Object prompt for each object type.

3 On the Definition tab, choose one of the following options:

• Use a pre-defined list of objects: This option lets you define a

specified list of objects.

Click Add, select the objects, then click OK.

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
To delete an object from the list, select the object and click
Remove.
 To remove all the items from the list, click Clear.
 To change the order in which the objects are displayed in the
prompt, select an object and click the Up and Down arrows to
move the selected object.

• Use the results of a 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.

Click Select Search, select the object, then click OK.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

4 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

5 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To restrict the number of prompt answers

6 You can specify whether the user is required to answer the prompt before
running the report. To require users to answer the prompt, select the
Prompt Answer is Required check box.

7 Set the maximum and/or minimum number of prompt answers allowed,

if desired. Select the Minimum number of answers and/or the
Maximum number of answers check boxes, and enter the numbers in
the fields.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For
more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

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8 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required) or ignore it.

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or
add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal
answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,

allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

9 On the Style tab, from the Display style drop-down list, specify a
presentation style, such as Check box, for the prompt. This is how the
prompt is displayed to the user.

10 To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are a fixed size, select
the Fixed textbox width and/or the Fixed textbox height check boxes,
and specify the size of the prompt's text fields and options in the fields.

• Specifying the size of the textbox can be beneficial when users answer
prompts on a smaller screen of a mobile device.

11 To determine how prompt options are arranged, from the Orientation

drop-down list, select Vertical or Horizontal.

• To determine the number of prompt answers displayed in a row or

column (depending on alignment), select the Items per column/row
check box and enter the number in the field.

12 You can determine whether to allow users to use a search box to locate
prompt answers. Searching for objects allows analysts to quickly locate
specific objects to use to answer the prompt. From the Show search box
drop-down list, select one of the following options:

• To display the search box, select True.

• To not display a search box, select False.

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13 If you are using the Shopping Cart display style, you can select the Use
folder structure check box to display the prompt choices in a folder
structure. This option, available for search objects, is useful when the
same object with the same name is saved in multiple folders. Use the up
and down ordering arrows to reorder prompt objects.

• To allow users to navigate above the root folder when searching, select
the Allow navigation above search root check box.

14 For an object prompt that uses a search object and the Tree display style,
the Use folder structure check box is selected and cannot be changed.
You can select whether or not empty folders are shown in the tree when
the prompt is executed. Select or clear the Do not show empty folders
check box. Note that selecting it can impact performance.

 The search object must search within subfolders. For background

information on search objects and steps to create them, see the
MicroStrategy Developer Help (formerly the MicroStrategy
Desktop Help).

To save your prompt

15 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

You can now add your new prompt to a report, metric, or filter. For a table
showing how to add each prompt type to a report, metric, or filter, see
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Filtering data based on a single value or string: Value prompts

Value prompts are useful when the result desired on the report is a single
value, such as a specific date, a number, or a specific word or phrase. The
Value prompt is designed to return report results based on the data type
assigned to the data in your data source.

For example, you want a report that lists all employees whose age is less than
40 years. You create a report with the Employee attribute and the Employee
Age attribute. You create a Numeric Value prompt while you are creating the

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report. The Numeric Value prompt contains the Employee Age attribute, the
operator Less than, and a Maximum Value set at 50.

Using the MicroStrategy Tutorial sample data, if you execute the report and
answer the prompt by specifying 40 as the Employee Age, the final report
looks like the following:

Value prompts are typically used on a filter, where they become part of the
filter’s definition, but they can also be used on a metric as part of the metric’s
formula. The filter or metric is then placed on a report.

Because they are often used in filters, Value prompts can be created directly
in the Filter Editor at the same time you create the filter in which you want to
place the Value prompt. When created this way, a Value prompt is part of the
filter’s definition and is not a stand-alone prompt, so it cannot be added to
another filter. To create a stand-alone Value prompt, create it in the New
Prompt page. This gives you and other designers the flexibility to create a
Value prompt once and add it to various filters.

For a table of where to use all prompts, see Reports: Adding prompts to a
report, metric, or filter, page 367.

The different types of Value prompts are:

• Date prompt: This Value prompt type asks users to type or select a date,
and returns data that has the date data type assigned to it and that
matches the user’s entered date. For example, the Date prompt can be

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useful when added to a filter that screens data based on Year=2006. The
prompt lets users select a specific date within the year of the filter’s
condition. Date prompts are used in filters which qualify on a date.

• Numeric prompt: This Value prompt type asks users to type a numeric
value. Numeric Value prompts accept integers or decimals up to 15 digits
of precision. Numeric prompts can be used in any filter that needs a
number input from the user, such as a metric qualification. For
information on metric qualification filters, see Filtering data based on
metric value or rank: Metric set qualification, page 270.

 Ifis converted
a user enters more than 15 digits for a numeric prompt, the data
to scientific notation. If precision is needed beyond 15
digits, you should use a Big Decimal value prompt instead.

• Text prompt: This Value prompt type asks users to type a string of text.
Text prompts are commonly used in attribute form qualification filters.
For information on attribute form qualification filters, see Filtering data
based on business attribute forms, page 261.

• Big Decimal prompt: This Value prompt type asks users for a “big
decimal” value. Big Decimal Value prompts accept integers and decimals
up to 38 digits of precision.

 Big Decimal prompts should be used in expressions that require

high precision, such as qualifying on a Big Decimal attribute ID.

• Long prompt: This Value prompt type asks users for a long integer value.
Long prompts accept integer numbers up to 10 digits.

Long prompts can be created in MicroStrategy Developer. The ability to

create a Long Value prompt is not enabled in the Prompt Generation
Wizard by default. To enable Long Value prompts:
a Double-click your project to open it.

b From the Tools menu in Developer, select My Preferences. The My

Preferences dialog box opens.

c Expand the General category on the left, and select Prompts.

d Select Add long prompts to the list of available value prompts.

e Click OK to save your changes.

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Creating Value prompts

To create a Value prompt

1 In MicroStrategy Web, on the Home page, click New Prompt. The Create
Prompt page opens.

2 Click Value Prompt. The New Prompt page opens.

To define the prompt type to be presented to the user

3 Specify the type of Value prompt:

• Date and Time prompt: This prompt lets users filter for data related
to either a specific date or a range of dates.

• Numeric prompt: This prompt lets users filter numeric data, usually
based on a metric.

• Text prompt: This prompt lets users filter text data, usually based on
attribute forms.
• Big Decimal prompt: This prompt lets users filter data based on a big
decimal value for a metric.

To specify a title and instructions

For considerations when determining a title and description, see Title

and instructions, page 304.

4 On the General tab, type a Title, which is used as the default object name
when you save the prompt, although you can change it.

5 Type text in the Instructions field, which is displayed when the prompt is
run during report execution.

To define a range within which the user’s answer must fall

6 You can specify whether the user is required to answer the prompt before
running the report. To require users to answer the prompt, select the
Prompt Answer is Required check box. For considerations about
required and optional prompt answers, see Answer requirements,
page 300.

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7 To restrict the user to entering values within certain ranges:

• Select the Minimum value check box and enter the lowest value
allowed for the prompt answer.
 For a Date prompt, this is the earliest date.

For a Text prompt, this is the fewest number of characters allowed
in the text string.

• Select the Maximum value check box and enter the highest value
allowed for the prompt answer.
 For a Date prompt, this is the latest date.
 For a Text prompt, this is the maximum number of characters
allowed in the text string.

To allow personal answers

Personal answers allow a user to save prompt answers for this prompt,
and then reuse the answers on any report that this prompt is used on. For
more information on personal answers, and how they can be used, see
Personal answers, page 302.

8 To determine whether personal answers can be saved for this prompt,

select one of the following options from the Personal answers allowed
drop-down list:

• None: No personal answers can be saved. Every time a user sees the
prompt, he must answer it manually (if it is required).

• Single: Only one personal answer can be saved for this prompt. When
the prompt is used again (on this report or a different one), the
personal answer is displayed. A user can keep the personal answer, or
add or delete selections. He can save his changes as a new personal
answer, but only one personal answer can be saved for the prompt.

• Multiple: Multiple personal answers can be named and saved,

allowing different answers for the same prompt. When the prompt is
used again (on this report or a different one), the personal answers are
available. The user can select one of them, or answer the prompt
manually.

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To specify the layout and display style of the prompt

9 On the Style tab, from the Display style drop-down list, specify a
presentation style, such as Textbox, for the prompt. This is how the
prompt is displayed to the user.

 Styles for prompts displayed for mobile devices, such as Slider,

Stepper, and Switch, display when the prompt is viewed on a
mobile device with MicroStrategy Mobile. Certain styles are
available for specific types of Value prompts. For a general
overview of displaying prompts on mobile devices, see the
Allowing users to filter data: prompts section of the Mobile
Design and Administration Guide.

The options are:

• Textbox: This prompt lets users type a value directly into a field.

• Slider: This prompt lets users specify a numeric value on a horizontal

slider.

• Stepper: This prompt displays a numeric value. Users can use the
increment and decrement buttons to increase or decrease the value
displayed.

• Switch: This prompt lets users choose between two choices, On and
Off.

• Wheel: This prompt displays a wheel or row of wheels the user can
move up or down to specify a value.

• Geo Location: This prompt lets users filter results based on their
current geographical location.
• Barcode Reader: This prompt lets users answer the prompt by
scanning or typing an item's bar code.

10 Depending on the prompt's type and display style, you can specify other
available formatting options:
• To ensure that the prompt's text fields and options are of a fixed size,
select the Fixed textbox width check box and type a value in the field.

• For the Date and Time prompt, to allow users to select time before
running a report, select the Allow user to select time check box.

 On mobile devices, the Date and Time prompts are displayed as

a calendar by default. If the Allow user to select time check box
is selected, the Date and Time prompts are displayed as wheels

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on an iPhone or iPad, and as a date/time stepper on an

Android device.

• For the Numeric prompt, to specify a value for the prompt when it is
set to the on position, type a value in the On value field. To specify a
value for the prompt when it is set to the off position, type a value in
the Off value field.

• To specify the interval between numeric values that are displayed in

the prompt, type a value in the Interval field. For example, in a
Numeric prompt with the display style set to Slider, a minimum value
of 1 and a maximum value of 50, and an interval of 5, users can select
values such as 5, 10, 15, and so on.

• For prompts with the display style set to Geo Location, to specify
whether the prompt is set using latitude or longitude, select Latitude
or Longitude from the Location coordinate drop-down list.

• To format how numeric values are displayed in the prompt, click

Number Format, select a number formatting style and click OK to
apply changes.

To save your prompt

11 Click Save As, navigate to the folder where you want to save the prompt,
type a Name and Description for the prompt, and click OK. Your new
prompt is saved.

All Value prompts must be added to either a metric or a filter (depending on

the type of Value prompt and what you want it to do), and then the metric or
filter is added to a report.

For a table showing how to add each prompt type to a report, see Reports:
Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

You can also set a default prompt answer, which allows the user to complete
report execution quickly, as they do not need to answer the prompt but can
simply run the report using the default answer. For steps to specify a default
prompt answer, see Default prompt answers, page 300.

Editing a prompt
You can edit any prompt by clicking it in MicroStrategy Web. The prompt
opens in Edit mode. For steps to edit a prompt, see Types of prompts,

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page 307 to determine the type of prompt you are editing, and then use the
appropriate section to make changes to any aspect of the prompt.

Adding a prompt to a report

To add one or more prompts to a new or existing report, see Reports: Adding
prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

Additional prompt functionality

The MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide provides detailed
information about the following advanced features:

• Prompts in scheduled reports: Learn about how prompted reports work

when they are on a set schedule to be executed, and what the special
requirements are for scheduled reports with prompts.

• Level prompts: Learn about creating a Level prompt that lets users
determine what level a metric is aggregated at, as well as any target or
grouping associated with the metric’s level.

• Dynamic dates: Learn about defining a date that is a fixed offset of the
current date.

• System prompts: These are special built-in prompts, such as the User
Login system prompt. Additional information and examples can be found
in the MicroStrategy System Administration Guide.

Designing a report’s structure: Templates

A template is the structure that underlies any report. A template specifies the
set of information that the report should retrieve from your data source, and
it also determines the structure in which the information is displayed in the
report’s results. A template’s structure is the location of objects on the
template, such as showing that metrics have been placed in the report’s
columns, and attributes have been placed in the rows; the Revenue metric
has been placed to the left of the Revenue Forecast metric so that a user
reading left to right can see current revenue before seeing forecasted
revenue; and so on.

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When you are creating a report, you place various MicroStrategy objects on
the report’s template. Objects can include attributes, metrics, filters, and
prompts, as well as other objects such as custom groups and consolidations
which are introduced in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.
Filters and prompts further restrict and refine the data displayed on the
executed report. When a report is executed, the data related to all the objects
on the template that have satisfied the filtering conditions of the report filter
are displayed on the report using the format specified by the template.

MicroStrategy comes with a set of pre-created report templates which you

can use to build your own reports. These templates let you create a new
report quickly because the template already contains common objects and
basic filters. When you create any new report, you can start with an existing
template, which will shorten the time it takes to produce the finished report.
The Create Report page opens whenever you create a new report in
MicroStrategy Web, and this is where you can select an existing template on

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which to base the new report. The templates on the Create Report page are
shown in the image below:

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The diagram below shows the template and filter for a report, as well as the
executed report that results from what is defined on the template.

Whenever you initiate the creation of a new report, the system automatically
creates a template and a basic, empty report filter. Although you may not
specifically define and use a separate template or report filter object, a
template and empty filter are a logical part of every report’s definition.

Creating a grid report

A report is a MicroStrategy object that represents a request for a specific set
of formatted data from your data source. In its most basic form it consists of
two parts:

• A report template (usually simply called a template), which is the

underlying structure of the report.
• The report-related objects placed on the template, such as attributes,
metrics, filters, and prompts.

To create a report that accurately answers a specific business query, be sure

you understand the fundamental MicroStrategy objects that make up a
report, as described in MicroStrategy objects, page 209. This section
assumes you have a basic understanding of each object presented in this
chapter. For information on the specific objects that make up a report, refer
to the following:

• Attributes: See Providing business context to a report: Attributes,

page 215.

• Metrics: See Calculating data on a report: Metrics, page 217.

• Filters: See Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

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• Prompts: See Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296.

• Templates: See Designing a report’s structure: Templates, page 348.

• Consolidations and custom groups: See the Consolidations and Custom

Groups chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

A simple report generally has at least one attribute, one metric, and one
filter. It is not necessary to have all these objects in the report, but the data
returned is more meaningful if all these objects are present in the report.

For example, if you create a report with just one attribute, such as Customer,
and run the report, it returns a list of all the attribute elements for that
attribute. In this case, you see a list of names for every customer who has
done business with your company and is in your database. Likewise, if you
add just one metric to an otherwise blank report, you see all revenue data for
all time, for all regions.

If you add a metric and an attribute to the same report, such as the Customer
attribute and the Revenue metric, the report data begins to become useful
because you can view what revenue each customer brought to your stores.
However, for most organizations, this is still a prohibitively large report.

If you add a report filter to the report, you can limit the data to a specific area
of interest. For example, you can define a specific geographic region and a
time period by adding a few additional attributes to the report, such as
Region and Year. Then you can add a filter to see only your most profitable
Northeast region customers for the past year. The resulting report can
display those customers in your Northeast region who brought in the most
revenue last year.

 Ititself.
is not required that the objects in a filter are also part of the report
In this example, adding the Region and Year attributes to the
report lets the report’s users see the context of the report’s results.

This section describes how to design a report with basic reporting

components, such as attributes, metrics, and filters, in MicroStrategy Web
using the Report Editor. It provides procedures to create a new report and
add attributes, metrics, filters, and prompts to the report. It also provides a
procedure to modify an existing report.

If you use the MicroStrategy Tutorial project to perform the examples in the
procedures that follow, you can become familiar with the Report Editor
environment and the features it offers. The Tutorial project offers an
opportunity to use MicroStrategy even if your organization does not yet have
its own data available in a MicroStrategy project.

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Prerequisites
To create a report that displays your organization’s data, you must have a
MicroStrategy project already created, and you must have the appropriate
MicroStrategy privileges to perform the necessary tasks. If you plan to use
the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and its sample data with the following
procedures, you only need the privileges necessary to perform the
procedures; it is not necessary to have your own project set up in
MicroStrategy.

Each of these requirements is discussed below.

A working project with data objects

Before you create your own reports, you must have a working MicroStrategy
project containing objects that reflect your business data. (If you do not yet
have your own working project, you can use the Tutorial project to practice
procedures in this book. The Tutorial project is discussed below.) A project
must contain objects that reflect your business data, so that those objects can
be placed on a report and, when the report is executed, the appropriate
business data can be retrieved from your data source.

Business objects that must already be created within a project include the
following:
• Facts, for example Revenue or Units Sold, are business measurements,
which take the form of data stored in your data source, or variables. Facts
are typically numeric and suitable for aggregation. They are used to
create metrics as well as other objects in MicroStrategy.
• Attributes are business concepts that answer questions about facts, such
as when, where, and so on. Attributes provide a context for reporting
those facts.

 Your project may already contain other objects in addition to

attributes and facts, such as metrics, filters, and prompts. Facts and
attributes are the minimum objects that must already be created.
They are usually created by your project designer when the project
itself is created.

For example, on a report that contains the Year attribute and a Units Sold
metric (based on a Units Sold fact), you can view how many units were sold
during a given year. Without any attribute on this report, the report can
provide information only about how many units were sold overall; it cannot
answer questions about who purchased the units, when, where, and so on.

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Detailed information about creating projects, as well as about facts,

attributes, and how to create these objects can be found in the MicroStrategy
Project Design Guide.

If you do not have a working project yet, you can use the Tutorial project with
the procedures in this chapter to learn how to create the various report
objects in MicroStrategy. For information on the Tutorial project and how to
access it, see About sample data and the MicroStrategy Tutorial project,
page 4.

Report design and creation privileges

As a MicroStrategy user, you must have the appropriate privileges assigned

to you, to be able to create reports and report objects, as follows:

• For MicroStrategy Web, the group of privileges assigned to most report

designers is called Web Professional.

• For MicroStrategy Developer, the group of privileges assigned to most

report designers is called Developer.

See your administrator for any questions about privileges assigned in

MicroStrategy.

Creating a report with the Report Editor

You can use the Report Editor available in MicroStrategy Web to create a
new report or modify an existing report. The Report Editor displays the
report as it will be seen by the user and includes toolbars, menus, and panels
that allow you to change how the report is displayed.

To modify a report’s template, filter, or any other aspect of the report’s

definition, you can use Design Mode within the Report Editor. A new report
automatically opens in Design Mode. It is also accessible within an existing
report through the Home menu of the Report Editor interface.

Design Mode allows you to create or edit the report’s template and
definition. A report’s definition is the definitions of all the objects that are
included on the report when the report is designed, as well as any formatting
applied to the report.

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Creating a quick report

If you are already familiar with MicroStrategy objects that are used to create
a report, and you need to create a report quickly, you can use MicroStrategy’s
Report Builder to create a report. However, the Report Builder tool limits
you to only adding certain objects to the report while you are using the tool.
Once you finish creating a report in Report Builder, you can continue to
modify the report in the Report Editor and add additional objects.

To use Report Builder to create a quick report, see Creating a report for
analysis, page 195.

Opening the Report Editor with a blank report template

Templates are introduced in Designing a report’s structure: Templates,

page 348.

Once objects are added to it, a template specifies the set of information that
the report should retrieve from your data source, and it also determines the
structure in which the information is displayed in the report’s results.

This section contains steps to open Design Mode in MicroStrategy Web with
a blank report template, so you can create a new report.

To access a blank report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, log in to the project in which you want to create a

report.
• If you are using the MicroStrategy Tutorial project and its sample
data, log in to the Tutorial project.

2 Click the MicroStrategy icon and select Create Report.

3 Click Blank Report. A blank report template is displayed, and you are
ready to design a new report.

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The following image shows Design Mode displaying a blank report

template in MicroStrategy Web.

For a description of each area or pane of the MicroStrategy Web Report

Editor and Design Mode, see MicroStrategy Web Report Editor
interface, page 432.

4 Use the following sections to add attributes, metrics, filters, and prompts
to your new report. Almost all reports have one or more attributes, one or
more metrics, and one filter.
• Attributes: See Reports: Adding attributes to a report, page 357.

• Metrics: See Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

• Filters: See Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

• Prompts: See Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,

page 367.

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Reports: Adding attributes to a report

Attributes are MicroStrategy objects that represent the business concepts
reflected in your stored business data in your data source. Attributes provide
a 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 is much more helpful for analysts. For details on
attributes, see Providing business context to a report: Attributes, page 215.

Selecting the right attributes

When you choose attributes to place on a report, select attributes that make
sense together. For example, Product Supplier and Customer Income
Bracket do not make much sense when their related data is displayed
side-by-side on a report. It is difficult to imagine a metric that can be
included on a report with these attributes, which would calculate useful
report results which would be meaningful for both these attributes.

However, the Customer Income Bracket attribute makes sense when it is

combined with the Product attribute on a report, where they might allow an
analyst to consider a list of products preferred by higher and lower income
bracket customers. The Product Supplier attribute makes more sense when
combined with any or all of the attributes Ship Date, Rush Orders, Weeks to
Ship, or some other attribute related to the supply chain.

To add an attribute to a report

 Ifassumes
you are using one of your organization’s projects, this procedure
attributes have been created. Attributes are usually created
by your project’s designer. If attributes need to be created, see the
MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a new report in Design Mode. See To access

a blank report, page 355.

2 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to your project’s attributes
folder and open it.

• If you are using the Tutorial project, open the Schema Objects
folder, then open the Attributes folder. Select any attribute to use for
the next step. In this procedure, Category attribute from the Products
folder is used.

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• To search for an attribute in your project, type the name of the

attribute in the Find text field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

3 To add an attribute to the report, do one of the following:

• Drag and drop the attribute to the desired location on the report’s
grid.

• Double-click the attribute to add it to the report.

• Right-click the attribute and select Add to Grid as shown in the image
below, then move it to the desired location on the report’s grid.

Attributes are commonly displayed in a report’s rows, although you can

add attributes to a report’s column, if you want. To add an attribute to a
column, do one of the following:

• Drag and drop the attribute to the Drop objects here to add
columns area of the grid.
• Right-click the attribute name, select Move and select To Columns.

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4 The attribute appears in the row or the column section of your report’s
template depending upon where it is added, as shown in the image below:

5 Repeat the steps above to add additional attributes to your report, if you
wish.

6 Almost all reports have one or more attributes, one or more metrics, and
one filter. If you need to, use the following sections of this manual to add
additional objects to your new report:

• Metrics: See Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

• Filters: See Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

• Prompts: See Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,
page 367.

7 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Reports: Adding metrics to a report

Metrics are MicroStrategy objects that represent business measures and key
performance indicators. From a practical perspective, metrics are the
calculations performed on data stored in your database, the results of which

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are displayed on a report. For details on metrics, see Calculating data on a

report: Metrics, page 217.

To add a metric to a report

 Ifassumes
you are using one of your organization’s projects, this procedure
at least one metric has been created. If you need to create
metrics, see Calculating data on a report: Metrics, page 217.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a new report in Design Mode. See To access

a blank report, page 355.

2 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to your project’s metric folder
and open it.

• If you are using the Tutorial project, open the Public Objects folder,
then open the Metrics folder. Select any metric to use in the next step.
In this procedure, the Average Revenue metric from the Sales Metrics
folder is used.

• To search for a metric in your project, type the name of the metric in
the Find text field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

3 To add a metric to the report, do one of the following:

• Drag and drop the metric to the desired location on the report’s grid.

• Double-click the metric to add it to the report.

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• Right-click the metric and select Add to Grid as shown in the image
below, then move it to the desired location on the report’s grid.

Metrics are commonly displayed in a report’s columns, although you can

add metrics to a report’s row, if you want. To add a metric to a row, do
one of the following:
• Drag and drop the metric on the row in the report grid.

• Right-click the Metrics header, select Move and select To Rows.

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4 The metric appears in the row or the column section of your report’s
template depending upon where it is added, as shown in the image below:

5 Repeat the steps above to add additional metrics to your report, as

needed.

6 Almost all reports have one or more attributes, one or more metrics, and
one filter. If you need to, use the following sections of this manual to add
additional objects to your new report:

• Attributes: Reports: Adding attributes to a report, page 357.

• Filters: Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362.

• Prompts: Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,

page 367.

7 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, once your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it,
from the toolbar select Run Report.

8 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Reports: Adding a filter to a report

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.
A filter is not required in a report, although reports without filters are more
likely to return too much data to be displayed effectively. If a filter is added, it
should make sense with the objects already on the report.

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For details on filters in general and the various types of filters, see Filtering
data on a report: Filters, page 250. You need to know what type of filter you
want to have when you add it to a report.

Filters can be added to a report in two ways:

• If a filter object has already been created in your project (this is a

stand-alone filter), use the To add a stand-alone filter to a report
procedure below.

• If a separate filter has not already been created, you can create a filter
directly in the report. However, be aware that the filter cannot be used as
an independent object on other reports. To create a filter within the
report, use the To create a filter directly within a report: Embedded
filters procedure below.

To add a stand-alone filter to a report

 Ifassumes
you are using one of your organization’s projects, this procedure
at least one filter has been created. If you need to create
filters, see Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a new report in Design Mode. See To access

a blank report, page 355.

2 If the Report Filter pane is not displayed above the report, display it by
clicking the Filter icon on the toolbar.

3 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to the folder where your filter
is located and open it.
• If you are using the Tutorial project, open the Public Objects folder,
then open the Shared Filters folder. Select any filter to use in the next
step. In this procedure, the Top 5 Customers By Revenue filter from
the Customer Analysis Filters folder is used.
• To search for a filter in your project, type the name of the filter in the
Find text field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

4 To add a filter to the report’s Filter pane, do one of the following:

• Drag and drop the filter on the Report Filter pane.

• Double-click the filter to add it to the Report Filter pane.

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• Right-click the filter and select Add to Filter as shown in the image
below.

5 Repeat the steps above to add additional filters to your report, as needed.

6 Almost all reports have one or more attributes, one or more metrics, and
one filter. If you need to, use the following sections of this manual to add
additional objects to your new report:
• Attributes: Reports: Adding attributes to a report, page 357.

• Metrics: Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

• Prompts: Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,

page 367.

7 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, once your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it,
from the toolbar select Run Report.

8 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

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To create a filter directly within a report: Embedded filters

1 In MicroStrategy Web, create a new report in Design Mode. See To access

a blank report, page 355.

2 If the Report Filter pane is not displayed above the report, display it by
clicking the Filter icon on the toolbar.

3 Select the object you want to base your filter on:

• To base your filter on an object that is part of the report's definition,

select Report Objects from the bottom left to open the Report
Objects pane if it is not already open. Select the object you want to
base your filter on. The object can be an attribute or a metric.

• To base your filter on the results of another report, select All Objects
from the bottom left to open the All Objects pane if it is not already
open. Navigate to and select the report you want to base your filter on.

4 To add the selected object to the report’s Filter pane, do one of the
following:

• Drag and drop the object on the Report Filter pane.

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• Right-click the object and select Add to Filter as shown in the image
below.

5 Depending on the type of object you added to the filter, a new set of
choices may appear. The links below provide steps to filter data based on
the object you chose:

• If you are filtering based on an attribute, see one of the following:


Filtering data based on business attribute elements: Attribute
element list qualification, page 255.

Filtering data based on business attribute forms, page 261.

Filtering data based on dates, page 265.

• If you are filtering based on a metric, see Filtering data based on

metric value or rank: Metric set qualification, page 270.

• If you are filtering based on the results of another report, see Filtering
data based on the results of another report: Shortcut-to-a-report
qualification, page 276.

• If you are filtering based on a filter, see Filtering data based on an

existing filter: Shortcut-to-a-filter qualifications, page 280.

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• If you are creating an advanced filter, see the MicroStrategy

Advanced Reporting Guide.

6 Click the Apply icon to apply your new filter condition to the report.

7 You can add additional conditions to the report's filter by repeating the
steps above to add another object to the filter and define the condition.

8 Almost all reports have one or more attributes, one or more metrics, and
one filter. If you need to, use the following sections of this manual to add
additional objects to your new report:

• Attributes: See Reports: Adding attributes to a report, page 357.

• Metrics: See Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

• Prompts: See Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter,

page 367.

9 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, once your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it,
from the toolbar select Run Report.

10 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter

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

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Use the following table when considering how and where to add a prompt to
a report, metric, or filter:

Add To Add To Add To Add To

Report Editor: Report Report Metric
Add To Filter Editor:
Filter Name Template Editor: Editor: Editor:
Filter Definition Pane
Definition Report Filter Page-by Definition
Pane Pane Pane Pane

Hierarchy No Yes No No Yes

Qualification
prompt

Attribute No Yes No No Yes

Qualification
prompt

Attribute Element No Yes No No Yes

List prompt

Metric No Yes No No Yes

Qualification
prompt

Object Prompts

Object prompt of Yes No Yes Yes Added as part of an

attributes advanced qualification

Object prompt of Yes No Yes Yes No

metrics

Object prompt of No Yes No Yes Yes

filters

Object prompt of No Yes No No Yes

reports

Value Prompts

Date prompt No No No No Added as part of an

attribute form
qualification, on an
attribute form of Date
data type

Numeric prompt, No No No Yes Added as part of a

Long prompt, or Big metric set qualification,
Decimal prompt as a metric value
comparison

Text prompt No No No No Added as part of an

attribute form
qualification, on an
attribute form of a text
data type

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Add To Metric Add to Filter

Add To Report Add To Report Add To Report
Editor: Editor: Filter
Editor: Template Editor: Report Editor: Page-by
Definition Definition
Definition Pane Filter Pane Pane
Pane Pane

Procedure Adding a prompt Adding a prompt Adding a prompt Adding a Adding a

to the Template to the Report to the page-by prompt to a prompt to a
definition pane in Filter pane in the pane in the metric’s filter’s
the Report Editor, Report Editor, Report Editor, definition in the definition in
page 369 page 370 page 372 Metric Editor, the Filter
page 373 Editor,
page 375

Adding a prompt to the Template definition pane in the

Report Editor

You can add Object prompts to the Template definition pane of the Report
Editor.

This procedure assumes you have already created and saved a prompt. For
steps to create an Object prompt, see Creating Object prompts, page 338.

To add a prompt to the Template definition pane in the Report Editor

1 In MicroStrategy Web, if you are creating a new report, open Design

Mode. For steps to do this, see To access a blank report, page 355. If you
are adding the prompt to an existing report, from the Home menu in the
Report Editor, select Design.

2 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to the folder where the
prompt you want to add to the report is located and open it.

• To search for the prompt, type the name of the prompt in the Find text
field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

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3 Drag and drop the prompt to the desired location on the report’s grid.
Alternatively, right-click the prompt and select Add to Grid as shown in
the image below, then move it to the desired location on the report’s grid.

4 Add more prompts or other objects to the report if desired.

5 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, once
your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it and you have
added a prompt, from the toolbar select Run Report.

6 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Adding a prompt to the Report Filter pane in the Report

Editor

You can add Filter Definition prompts to the Report Filter pane of the Report
Editor. You can also add an Object prompt that is made up of filters or
reports.

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This procedure assumes you have already created and saved a prompt. For
steps to create a filter definition prompt, see Filtering data on an attribute,
attribute form, attribute element, or metric, page 311. To create an Object
prompt, see Creating Object prompts, page 338.

To add a prompt to the Report Filter pane in the Report Editor

1 In MicroStrategy Web, if you are creating a new report, open Design

Mode. For steps to do this, see To access a blank report, page 355. If you
are adding the prompt to an existing report, from the Home menu in the
Report Editor, select Design.

2 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to the folder where the
prompt you want to add to the report is located and open it.

• To search for the prompt, type the name of the prompt in the Find text
field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

3 Drag and drop the prompt onto the Report Filter pane. Alternatively,
right-click the prompt and select Add to Filter as shown in the image
below:

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4 Add more prompts or other objects to the report if desired.

5 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, once
your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it and you have
added a prompt, from the toolbar select Run Report.

6 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Adding a prompt to the page-by pane in the Report Editor

Page-by lets you turn a long report into a set of individual pages. The pages
are created based on the objects on the report, allowing users to see
manageable subsets of otherwise large quantities of data. For background
information on page-by fields, see Grouping data by page, page 85.

You can add Object prompts to the page-by pane of the Report Editor.

This procedure assumes you have already created and saved a prompt. For
steps to create an Object prompt, see Creating Object prompts, page 338.

To add a prompt to the page-by pane in the Report Editor

1 In MicroStrategy Web, if you are creating a new report, open Design

Mode. For steps to do this, see To access a blank report, page 355. If you
are adding the prompt to an existing report, from the Home menu in the
Report Editor, select Design.

2 In the All Objects pane on the left, navigate to the folder where the
prompt you want to add to the report is located and open it.
• To search for the prompt, type the name of the prompt in the Find text
field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

3 Drag and drop the prompt onto the page-by pane.

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The image below shows an Object prompt called Object Prompt on Metric
in the page-by pane:

4 Add more prompts or other objects to the report if desired.

5 If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the
data source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, once
your report has one or more attributes and metrics in it and you have
added a prompt, from the toolbar select Run Report.

6 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

Adding a prompt to a metric’s definition in the Metric Editor

You can add the following prompt types to a metric’s definition in the Metric
Editor:

• An Object prompt of attributes, to allow the user to select the attribute at

which to calculated the metric. For steps to create a level metric, see the
Advanced Reporting Guide.

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• A Numeric prompt, Big Decimal prompt, or Long prompt, which are all
types of a Value prompt.
 You can use a Value prompt in the formula of a metric. For example, a
user can enter the tax rate to be multiplied by the Revenue fact. For
steps, see To add a prompt to a metric’s definition in the Metric
Editor below.

For a non-group function, you can use a Value prompt as the input
values of the function. For more information about non-group
functions, see Metrics made up of metrics: Compound metrics,
page 232.

 You can create a conditional metric, which filters data for that metric.
As part of the filter on the metric, you can use a prompt. For steps to
create a conditional metric, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

To add a prompt to a metric’s definition in the Metric Editor

 This procedure assumes you have already created and saved a prompt.
For steps to create a Value prompt, see Creating Value prompts,
page 344.

1 In MicroStrategy Developer, select File, point to New, and then select

Metric. The Metric Editor opens.

2 Create your metric’s formula. Use the Object Browser on the left to locate
the prompt to add to the metric’s definition.
• If the Object Browser is not displayed, from the View menu select
Object Browser.

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3 Drag the prompt onto the Definition pane at the bottom right, as shown
in the image below:

4 Save the metric, and add it to a report. For steps to do this, see Reports:
Adding metrics to a report, page 359.

If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the data
source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, once your
report has one or more attributes and metrics in it, from the View menu
select Grid View.

Adding a prompt to a filter’s definition in the Filter Editor

Most types of filter qualifications allow you to add a filter definition prompt
or an object prompt to the filter’s definition. (A qualification defines the
conditions that the data must meet to be included in a report, for example,
"Region = Northeast" or "Revenue > $1 million".) For requirements for
certain types of prompts if they are to be used in a filter’s definition, see
Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367.

Use one of the following procedures, depending on the type of prompt you
want to add to the filter:
• Adding a Filter Definition prompt or an Object prompt containing filters
or reports to a filter, page 376

• Adding a Numeric prompt, Long prompt, or Big Decimal prompt to a

filter, page 377

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• Adding a Date prompt to a report, page 379

• Adding a Text prompt to a report, page 380

Filter Definition prompts and Value prompts can be also be created while
you are defining the filter. These embedded filters are saved with the filter’s
definition, and therefore cannot be used on any other filter. For steps to
create embedded prompts in filters, see the MicroStrategy Web Help.

Adding a Filter Definition prompt or an Object prompt containing filters or

reports to a filter

To add any of the Filter Definition prompts, or an Object prompt made up of

filters or reports, to a report, you first add the prompt to a filter in the Filter
Definition pane of the Filter Editor. Then you add that filter containing the
prompt(s) to a report. Use the procedure below to add these prompt types to
a filter.

Once your filter containing the prompt(s) is created, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362 to add the filter to a report.

To add a prompt to the Filter Definition pane in the Filter Editor

 This procedure assumes that you have already created and saved a
prompt. For steps to create a Filter Definition prompt, see Creating
Hierarchy Qualification prompts, page 313, Creating Attribute
Qualification prompts, page 319, Creating Attribute Element List
prompts, page 326, or Creating Metric Qualification prompts,
page 331. To create an Object Prompt, see Creating Object prompts,
page 338.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open the Filter Editor. For steps to do this, see
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

2 Use the Object Browser on the left to locate the prompt you want to add
to the filter’s definition.

• To search for the prompt, type the name of the prompt in the Find text
field and press Enter or click the Find icon.

3 To add the prompt to the Filter definition pane on the right, do one of the
following:

• Drag and drop the prompt on the Filter definition pane on the right.

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• Double-click the prompt.

• Right-click the prompt and select Add to Filter as shown in the image
below.

4 Save the filter.

If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the data
source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, add the filter to
a report. For steps to do this, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report,
page 362. Add one or more attributes and metrics to the report, and then run
the report by selecting select Run Report from the toolbar.

Adding a Numeric prompt, Long prompt, or Big Decimal prompt to a filter

You can add integer-based Value prompts to a filter, so that when a user
executes a report containing that filter, the user is prompted to provide a
number. The number entered by the user is then used to filter data that is
displayed on the resulting report.

For example, you might create a filter that screens data displayed for the
Revenue metric, based on some top percentage. You want to let each user
determine what the percentage number should be. You create a Numeric
prompt asking for a number between 0 and 100. Then you use the procedure
below to create a filter that includes your Numeric prompt. The filter is
defined so that the metric is Revenue and the operator is Highest (%). This
filter is then placed on a report that includes the Revenue metric as part of its

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report definition. Each user who executes the report is prompted to provide a
number, which defines the top percentage of revenue that user wants to see
displayed in the report’s results.

To add a Numeric prompt, a Long prompt, or a Big Decimal prompt to a

report, you first add the prompt to a metric set qualification in the Filter
Editor. Then you add that filter containing the prompt to a report. Use the
procedure below to add a Numeric or Big Decimal prompt to a filter. (You
can add more than one prompt to a filter.)

 Long prompts can be created and added to a report in MicroStrategy

Developer.

Once your filter containing the prompt is created, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362 to add the filter to a report.

To add a Numeric or Big Decimal prompt to a filter in the Filter Editor

 This procedure assumes at least one Numeric or Big Decimal prompt

has been created. If you need to create prompts, see Creating Value
prompts, page 344.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open the Filter Editor. For steps to do this, see
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the metric you want to base the filter
on. Alternatively, type the name of the metric in the Find field.

3 Right-click the metric and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the metric to the right pane.

4 From the first drop-down menu, select an operator that suits your
filtering definition.

 Do not select Is Null or Is Not Null. These two options do not allow
you to use your prompt in the filter, because they filter only for
null values in the report’s results, whereas your prompt allows
users to filter for numeric values.

5 Using the pane on the left, browse to locate your Numeric or Big Decimal
prompt, and drag the prompt into the last field.

6 Click Apply to save your filter definition.

7 Save the filter.

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If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the data
source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, add the filter to
a report. For steps to do this, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report,
page 362. Add one or more attributes and metrics to the report, and then run
the report by selecting select Run Report from the toolbar.

Adding a Date prompt to a report

You can add Date prompts to a filter, so that when a user executes a report
containing that filter, the user is prompted to provide a specific date. The
date entered by the user is then used to filter data that is displayed on the
resulting report.

For example, you might create a filter that screens data displayed for the
Revenue metric by calculating revenue from a certain date. You want to let
each user determine what the date should be. You create a Date prompt
asking for a specific date in the year 2006. Then you use the procedure below
to create a filter that includes your Date prompt. The filter is defined so that
the attribute is Day and the operator is Equals. This filter is then placed on a
report that includes the Day attribute and the Revenue metric as part of its
report definition. Each user who executes the report is prompted to provide a
date, which defines the period of time that user wants to see reflected in the
report’s results.

To add a Date prompt to a report, you first add the prompt to an attribute
qualification in the Filter Editor. Then you add that filter containing the
prompt to a report. Use the procedure below to add a Date prompt to a filter.
(You can add more than one prompt to a filter.)

Once your filter containing the prompt is created, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362 to add the filter to a report.

To add a Date prompt to a filter in the Filter Editor

 This procedure assumes at least one Date prompt has been created. If
you need to create prompts, see Creating Value prompts, page 344.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open the Filter Editor. For steps to do this, see
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

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2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the attribute you want to base the filter
on. Alternatively, type the name of the attribute in the Find field.

 Bedatasuretype.to select an attribute that has an attribute form of the Date

3 Right-click the attribute and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the attribute to the right pane.

4 Select Qualify.

5 From the first drop-down menu, select the attribute form that suits the
type of data you want to filter.

6 From the next drop-down menu, select an operator that suits your
filtering definition.

 Do not select In list, Not in list, Is Null, or Is Not Null.

7 Using the pane on the left, browse to locate your Date prompt, and drag
the prompt into the last field.

8 Click Apply to save your filter definition.

9 Save the filter.

If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the data
source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, add the filter to
a report. For steps to do this, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report,
page 362. Add one or more attributes and metrics to the report, and then run
the report by selecting select Run Report from the toolbar.

Adding a Text prompt to a report

You can add Text prompts to a filter, so that when a user executes a report
containing that filter, the user is prompted to type a specific text string (set of
characters) to be used within the filter. The text entered by the user is used to
filter data that is displayed on the resulting report.

For example, you might create a filter that screens data displayed for the
Revenue metric by searching for revenue amounts from subsets of
customers, based on last names. You want to let each user determine which
customer last names are reflected in the revenue shown in the report results.
You create a Text prompt asking for a specific letter or last name. For
example, one user might enter “J” to see revenue for all customers whose last

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name begins with J, while another user might enter “Jackson” to see only
revenue from customers whose last name is Jackson. After your Text prompt
is created, you use the procedure below to create a filter that includes your
Text prompt. The filter is defined so that the attribute is Customer, it
qualifies on Last Name, and the operator is Begins With. This filter is then
placed on a report that includes the Customer attribute and the Revenue
metric as part of its report definition. Each user who executes the report is
prompted to provide a text string, which defines the last name or beginning
of the last name for the customers whose revenue that user wants to see
reflected in the report’s results.

To add a Text prompt to a report, you first add the prompt to an attribute
qualification in the Filter Editor. Then you add that filter containing the
prompt to a report. Use the procedure below to add a Text prompt to a filter.
(You can add more than one prompt to a filter.)

Once your filter containing the prompt is created, see Reports: Adding a
filter to a report, page 362 to add the filter to a report.

To add a Text prompt to a filter in the Filter Editor

 This procedure assumes at least one Text prompt has been created. If
you need to create prompts, see Creating Value prompts, page 344.

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open the Filter Editor. For steps to do this, see
Creating or editing filters: The Filter Editor, page 252.

2 In the pane on the left, navigate to the attribute you want to base the filter
on. Alternatively, type the name of the attribute in the Find field.

3 Right-click the attribute and select Add to Filter. You can also drag and
drop the attribute to the right pane.

4 Select Qualify.

5 From the first drop-down menu, select the attribute form that suits the
type of data you want to filter.

 Do not select ID or DATE.

6 From the next drop-down menu, select an operator that suits your
filtering definition.

 Do not select In list, Not in list, Is Null, or Is Not Null.

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7 Using the pane on the left, browse to locate your Text prompt, and drag
the prompt into the last field.

8 Click Apply to save your filter definition.

9 Save the filter.

If you want to see what your report looks like when executed against the data
source, and if you want to see how a prompt works for a user, add the filter to
a report. For steps to do this, see Reports: Adding a filter to a report,
page 362. Add one or more attributes and metrics to the report, and then run
the report by selecting select Run Report from the toolbar.

Saving a report
After you create or modify a report, you must save the report so that you and
others can execute it in the future. When you save a report, its name and its
definition such as the template, report filtering criteria, and report
formatting information are stored in the MicroStrategy metadata repository.

You can select options for prompted reports, such as whether to keep the
report prompted. You can also save reports as filters or templates, as follows:

• Saving a report as a filter allows you to use the saved report to filter a
different report. For example, if you have a report that returns basic data
such as revenue for the year 2008, you can save the report as a filter and
then use the new filter on other reports; in this example, the filter would
restrict data on other reports to revenue in the year 2008.
• Saving the report as a template allows you to use the saved report as a
base on which to build other reports. For example, if you have a report
that returns basic data such as countries and revenue, you can save the
report as a template on which you build several other reports, all of which
contain country and revenue data but also contain additional data as
appropriate for each report.

Saving a new report creates a predefined report. Other users can then
execute that report to analyze the data it shows, and they can limit or
reformat the data results according to their own analysis needs. To execute
the report, double-click the report to retrieve and display the most recent
data from your data source.

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To save a report

This procedure assumes you have either finished creating a new report or
modifying an existing report, and you have the report open in the Report
Editor. For steps to create a report, see Creating a grid report, page 351.

1 From the Home menu, select one of the following:

• To save a report, select Save. If you are saving changes to a report that
has already been saved, your changes are saved automatically.
Otherwise, the Save As dialog box opens. Select the appropriate
options to save your report, as described in the steps below.

 Ifreport
the report has already been saved and contains prompts, the
is automatically saved as a prompted report with the Filter
and Template set as prompted, and the Set the current answers to
be the default prompt answers check box selected. To select
different prompt options, select Save As from the Home menu
instead of Save, as described in the option below.

• To save a copy of an existing report using a different name or to

specify prompt options for an existing report, select Save As. The
Save As dialog box opens. Select the appropriate options to save your
report, as described in the steps below.

2 Browse to the folder in which you want to save the report. You can create
a new folder in which to save the report. To do so, click the Create New
Folder icon. The Create Folder dialog box is displayed. To create a new
folder:

a In the Folder field, enter a name for the folder. You cannot create a
folder with the same name as an existing folder.

b In the Description field, enter a description for your folder.

c Click Create Folder.

3 If you are saving a prompted report, you can choose whether or not to
keep the report prompted when the report is executed again. Select the
Keep report prompted check box. Expand the Advanced Options, then
select one of the following:

• To save the prompt answers you specified and automatically skip the
prompt selection page when running the report, select the Save
report as static option. The next time the report is run, the saved

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answers will automatically be used to answer the prompts and run the
report. The prompt selection page will not be displayed to users.

• To display the prompt selection page each time the report is run,
select the Save report as prompted option, then perform the
following steps:

a You can determine which prompts will be presented to users when

the report is run. You can choose to display prompts that are part
of the report's filter, prompts that have been placed on the report's
template, or both. Select one of the following:

– To present users only with prompts that have been added to

the report's filter, select the Only filter will be prompted
option. The next time the report is run, users will only be
prompted to provide answers for filter definition prompts.
Answers for prompts that have been placed on the report's
template, such as objects that users have selected in an object
prompt or levels selected in a level prompt, are saved with the
report definition and do not need to be provided by the user.

– To present users only with prompts that are part of the report's
template, select the Only template will be prompted option.
The next time the report is run, users are only prompted to
select objects for prompts that have been placed on the report's
template. Answers for prompts that have been added to the
report's filter are saved with the report definition and do not
need to be provided by the user.

– To present users with all prompts, regardless of whether they

have been added to the report's filter or the report's template,
select the Filter and template will be prompted option. The
report is saved so that object prompts, level prompts, and filter
definition prompts all remain active.

b You can choose to use the prompt answers you specified as default
prompt answers to be used the next time the report is run. Do one
of the following:

– To use the prompt answers as default prompt answers, select

the Set the current prompt answers to be the default
prompt answers check box.

– To save the report without default answers, clear the Set the
current prompt answers to be the default prompt answers
check box.

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4 To save the report as a filter, perform the following steps:

a Click the Filter tab.

b Select the Keep filter prompted check box. Expand the Advanced
Options and choose one of the following:

To save the prompt answers that have been selected for the report
and automatically use them as answers each time the user runs a
report to which the report-as-filter has been added, select the
Save filter as static option. The report-as-filter is not prompted
when a report it has been added to is run.

To present the prompt selection page to the user each time the
user runs a report to which the report-as-filter has been added,
select the Save filter as prompted option. The report-as-filter is
prompted when the report it is added to is run.

5 To save the report as a template, perform the following steps:

a Click the Template tab.

b Select the Keep template prompted check box. Expand the

Advanced Options and choose one of the following:

To save the prompt answers that have been selected for the report
and automatically use them as answers each time the user runs a
report that is based on the report-as-template, select the Save
template as static option. The report-as-template is not
prompted when a report that is based on it is run.
 To present the prompt selection page to the user each time the
user runs a report that is based on the report-as-template, select
the Save template as prompted option. The report-as-template
is prompted when a report that is based on it is run.

6 In the Name and Description fields, type a name and description for the
report.

7 Click OK to save the report. If a report with the same name already exists
in the folder, the Confirm Overwrite dialog box appears. Click Yes if you
want to replace the existing report.

After you create and save a report, you can include additional functionality
on the report for users, so they can explore report data more effectively and
see related data. For details on additional options you can add to a report, see
Adding features for users, page 387.

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Example for creating a new report

This section provides tutorials for designing a basic grid report in
MicroStrategy Web.

Using the procedure below, you design the report called My Revenue by
Region using the Region attribute and the Revenue metric. The report on
which it is based can be found in the MicroStrategy Tutorial project in the
following location: Shared Reports\Subject Areas\Sales and
Profitability Analysis. The report is shown in the image below:

Designing a report

The following procedure assumes you are using report objects from the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project and are making use of the sample Tutorial
data. For details on the Tutorial project, see About sample data and the
MicroStrategy Tutorial project, page 4.

This procedure also assumes you are familiar with the Report Editor in
MicroStrategy Web; see MicroStrategy Web Report Editor interface,

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page 432 in Appendix A, Reporting Interfaces in MicroStrategy for an

introduction to the Report Editor functionality.

To design the Revenue by Region report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, log in to the MicroStrategy Tutorial project, click

the MicroStrategy icon and select New Report.

2 Select Blank Report. The report opens in Design Mode.

3 In the Object Browser on the left, click Schema Objects to open the
Schema Objects folder. Open the Attributes folder and then the
Geography folder.

4 Double-click the Region attribute to add it to the Template pane.

5 In the Object Browser, browse to the Public Objects folder. (To do this,
navigate back to MicroStrategy Tutorial, then select Public Objects.) In
the Public Objects folder, select Metrics.

6 In the Metrics folder, open the Sales Metrics folder. Double-click the
Revenue metric to add it to the Template pane.

7 Click Save. The Save As dialog box opens. Browse to the folder where
you want to save your report, usually the My Reports folder. Save the
report as My Revenue by Region Web and click OK.

8 Click Run newly saved report to execute the report and display the
results, showing sample data from the sample data warehouse. When a
report like this is built using your organization’s objects, this view
provides actual revenue numbers an analyst can use for detailed
reporting purposes.

9 From the Home menu, select Graph. This lets analysts compare data on a
higher level to see how various regions are doing in terms of revenue.

Adding features for users

You can provide several report manipulation capabilities for report analysts,
by either enabling them or creating and adding them to an existing report.

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These options provide an interactive reporting experience to your users. User

features you should consider adding include:

• Formatting row and column headers and cells, page 389

• Formatting empty cells and null values, page 390

• Formatting metrics on a specific report, page 392

• Adding usability to a Report Services document, page 400

• Confirming your choice of graph style, page 401

• Enabling drilling and customizing drill maps, page 401

• Including totals and subtotals, page 402

• Including sorted data, page 403

• Hierarchical display of grouped attribute elements, page 403

• Grouping data by page: Adding objects to the page-by field in a report,

page 403

• Adding consolidations and custom groups, page 404

• Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report limits, page 405

• Determining evaluation order of calculations, page 406

• Specifying the delivery options available to users subscribing to a

report, page 407

Each of these features is described below.

You can also format the “No Data Returned” message that appears in a
report or document when no data is returned. For steps, see the
MicroStrategy Document Creation Guide.

Formatting for easier data analysis

If you created a report in MicroStrategy Developer, be sure to execute and
look at your new report in MicroStrategy Web as well. Make sure the report
is visually pleasing, and if necessary apply an autostyle to ensure the report is
easy to read. A report designer can create new autostyles in Developer and
make them available in MicroStrategy Web.

Fine-tuning your report’s formatting is described below.

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Additional formatting ideas can be found in the Reports chapter of the

MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Formatting row and column headers and cells

Analysts can apply a number of formatting characteristics to a report they

have executed. However, the report’s designer can apply a broader range of
formatting options to a report, so that users can more effectively understand
the data displayed on the report, or to simply achieve a pleasing and
easy-to-read look. Formatting options available to analysts are described in
Chapter 2, Formatting a Report.

To format row and column headers and cells

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report that you want to format.

2 From the Format menu, select Advanced Grid Formatting. The Format:
Template dialog box opens.
• If DHTML is disabled, click Go. The Format panel opens.

3 From the first drop-down list at the top of the dialog box, select the area
of the grid to change.

4 From the second drop-down list at the top of the dialog box, select
whether to format the All, Header, Values, Subtotal Names, or
Subtotal Values of that area of the grid.

5 Select one of the following tabs to access formatting options for your
report. For details about the options on each tab, click Help:
• Font: Change the font and color of letters and numbers in the report,
and change the background by applying gradients and other effects.

To change cell background (fill) color:


If DHTML is enabled, use the Fill Color option on the Color and
Lines tab.

If DHTML is disabled, use the Fill Color drop-down list on the
Font tab.

• Number: Specify a number format for values. For example, you can
ensure that certain metric values are displayed as percentages.

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• Alignment: Specify how values and text are aligned within cells on the
grid report.

• Color and Lines: Change the formatting of lines in your grid report,
such as cell borders.

To format cell borders:


If DHTML is enabled, use the Borders options on the Color and
Lines tab.
 If DHTML is disabled, use the Borders tab in the Format panel.

6 Click Apply to apply your formatting-related changes to the report.

Formatting empty cells and null values

Some cells within the tables in your data source may be empty because the
data was not available. This, along with other reasons, can cause cells in
some reports to be empty. You can determine how these empty or null values
are handled for display within a report. Determining a specific format for
null values can be helpful for analysts who might otherwise be confused on
seeing one or more blank cells in a report.

In Freeform SQL reports, null values can occur when the report references
unavailable objects. For example, you map the attribute description and ID
forms of the Region attribute, but you only include the ID in the SELECT
clause. When the report is executed, the description cannot be displayed
because it has not been retrieved from the data source.

For steps to format empty cells or null values, see Formatting null values
and blank cells, page 35 in Chapter 2, Formatting a Report.

Analysts can apply formatting for null values to a given report, if they want
to.

Merging column and row headers

You can merge row headers or column headers in the following ways:

• Merge any row headers that are repeated. All headers displaying the same
value are automatically merged into one header. For example, a report
displays sales by merchandise type, payment method, and total amount
sold. If there is a row for each merchandise type for each method of

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payment, all headers corresponding to a merchandise type can be merged

into one.

• Merge any column headers that are repeated. For example, if three
metrics on the report are related to Sales, do you want all three columns
to have Sales in the header, or do you want to merge these column
headers into a single header? If merged, Sales appears only once for the
three related columns.

To merge the column or row headers of a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report that you want to format.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 Select the Merge check box in either or both the Rows and Columns
areas. Click OK to apply the changes.

• If DHTML is disabled, select Merge Row Headers or Merge Column

Headers, then click Go.

4 Click OK to apply the changes.

Locking column and row headers

You can lock column and row headers at the top and side of a grid report, so
that when a user scrolls through a large report, the row and column headers
remain visible. Row and column headers can be locked independently of
each other.

Prerequisite

• DHTML must be enabled. For steps, click Help in MicroStrategy Web.

To lock the column or row headers of a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run a report.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

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3 Select the Lock check boxes in either or both the Rows and Columns
areas, depending on whether you want to lock rows, columns, or both.

4 Click OK to apply the changes.

Renaming row and column headers: Aliasing

Creating different aliases for different reports enables you to create flexible
reports for many different users. Different departments of the same company
may have different names for the same business measurement. For example,
you create a metric named Sales. The Sales department commonly refers to
this metric as Revenue, while Marketing calls it Sales. Use an alias to display
the Sales metric as Revenue for Sales department reports. Metric aliases help
provide greater flexibility for naming conventions in situations such as this
one.

Aliases also allow you to initially name metrics descriptively, including the
level and condition in the name, which can be helpful while you are
designing reports. However, that name is often too long and technical to be
displayed for analysts on a report. The end users may not need or want to
know what the level is; they simply want to know what the metric represents
on their specific report. Aliases provide a second opportunity to name the
metric for those users, without changing the original name of the metric or
its name on other reports.

For more details on aliasing and steps to create an alias on a report, see
Renaming row and column headers, page 37 in Chapter 2, Formatting a
Report.

Formatting metrics on a specific report

You can format the data related to individual metrics on a report. Certain
formatting choices can help analysts more quickly identify important values
or perform data comparisons.

For example, an analyst can instantly understand what a particular metric’s

values mean when they are preceded by a currency sign. Financial numbers
are generally easier to work with when a decimal is in place. Consider the
type of data that is returned on the report you are formatting, and apply
formatting choices that enhance understanding of that data.

 The procedure below formats a metric only within the context of the
report that is open when the formatting is applied to the metric. If the
metric is also used on another report, the formatting applied with this

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procedure does not appear on that other report. To format a metric so

that the formatting appears on every report in which the metric is
used, see Formatting a metric, page 244.

To format a metric on a specific report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report containing the metric to be

formatted.

2 From the Format menu, select Advanced Grid Formatting. The Format:
Template dialog box opens.

3 From the first drop-down list at the top of the dialog box, select the
metric to be formatted.

4 You can format the metric’s column or row header, and you can format
the metrics’ values that appear when the report is executed against your
data source.

• To format the metric’s column or row header, from the second

drop-down list at the top of the dialog box, select Header.

• To format the metric’s values, from the second drop-down list at the
top of the dialog box, select Values.

5 Format any or all of the following aspects of the metric. The following
steps describe the most commonly used options; for details on every
option in each tab, click Help.
• To format numbers: Select the Number tab. Choose a Category, then
choose how to format numbers for this metric.

For example, if you select Date as your category, the Type list lets you
choose which date format to use, such as 4/12/06, April 12, 2006, 12/
4/2006, and so on. If you select Fixed as your category, you can
determine the number of decimal places to be displayed, whether you
want numbers to be separated every three decimal places, and
whether negative numbers are allowed to be displayed.

• To format the alignment: Select the Alignment tab. Select an

alignment option. Text alignment determines how the content of each
cell is aligned, for example, centering the text. You can also select
Horizontal and Vertical alignment, and whether to wrap the text.

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• To format the font: Select the Font tab. Select the Font that you want
values to appear in. You can also select a Size, a Style (Bold, Italic,
and so on), and a Color in which text should be displayed.

• To format the background and borders: Select the Color and Lines
tab. You can select a color to fill the cell background and the type of
border to display around the selected cells. You can also customize the
border by selecting the type of line and color used for each of the left,
right, top, and bottom borders.

6 When you are finished formatting this metric, click OK to apply the
formatting.

Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds

Data in a report can be set up to appear with special formatting if it satisfies a

particular condition. The condition that the data needs to satisfy and the
special formatting that it will appear with are pre determined by the user. For
an introduction to thresholds, and for prerequisites to define conditions and
formatting, see Formatting conditional values on a grid: Thresholds,
page 25.

MicroStrategy Web comes with several default thresholds:

• Quick thresholds: Quick thresholds allow end users to apply green, red,
or yellow colors or symbols to metric values on your report. The end users
can automatically format the thresholds, and add them to a report
quickly. See Creating a quick threshold, page 30.

• Visual thresholds: Visual thresholds allow end users to use range

expressions (such as Greater Than, Less Than, or Top N%) to determine
whether a metric has met the condition. If a metric meets the condition,
the end users can apply special formatting to the values, or replace the
values with an image or a symbol. See Creating a threshold for a metric
based on a metric: Visual thresholds, page 31.

• Advanced thresholds: A Web Professional can use advanced thresholds to

apply formatting to a report or a grid in a document, based on multiple
metrics and more complex expressions than a visual threshold. This
allows for very specific conditions to be defined. Advanced thresholds
allow Web Professionals to create conditions based on metrics or
attributes, and a single advanced threshold can be based on multiple
conditions.

Steps are below to create an advanced threshold.

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To create an advanced threshold

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the name of the report to run it.

2 From the Data menu, select Advanced Threshold Editor . The

Advanced Threshold Editor opens.

Specify the threshold's conditions

3 From the Filter On drop-down list, select the attribute or metric on which
to base the threshold.

4 If you are creating a condition based on a metric, do the following:

a Select a comparison operator such as Greater Than or Less Than.

b Enter a value in the field on the right or click Select Metric to choose
another metric to compare the original metric to.

c Click the Apply icon to create the new threshold.

5 If you are creating a condition based on an attribute, do one of the

following:

To define your condition by typing specific attribute form values:

a Select the Qualify option.

b From the drop-down list on the left, select the attribute form on which
to base the condition. For example, you can qualify on the attribute
element's ID form, one of its description forms, or the DATE if the
attribute is time-based.

c From the next drop-down list, select a comparison operator such as

Greater Than or Less Than. The operators available for a selection
depend on the attribute form you chose above.

d Do one of the following:

 To compare the attribute form to a specified value, type the value
in the field.

To compare the first attribute form to a second attribute form,
click Select Attribute, then select the second attribute form from
the drop-down list.

e Click the Apply icon to create the new threshold.

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To define your condition by selecting attribute elements from a list:

a Choose the Select option.

b From the drop-down list on the left, select In List or Not In List. If you
select Not in List, then the attribute elements in the Selected list will
not be included in the threshold condition.

c Move attribute elements from the Available list to the Selected list.
Elements in the Selected list are included in the threshold condition.

To search for a specific element, use the Search for field. Select the
Match case check box to return only items that match the upper and
lower cases you typed in the Search for field. For examples of
searches, click Help.

d Click the Apply icon to create the new threshold.

Specify the formatting for the threshold

6 To specify how data that meets the threshold is formatted, click the
threshold, then click the Cell Formatting icon on the toolbar. The
Format dialog box opens.

7 Specify a name for the threshold in the Name field, if desired.

8 To replace the threshold values with text, an image, or a quick symbol,

select the Replace Data check box and select one of the following from
the drop-down list.

• Replace Text: Replace data with any text you specify. For example, a
document shows the financial values of various sales opportunities.
For those sales opportunities that have been lost, you might display
the word LOST in red, rather than displaying the financial value. A
common use of this option is to display the word EMPTY when a data
value is null.
If you select this option, type the text with which to replace the values
in the corresponding text field.

• Quick Symbol: Replace the normally displayed data with a common

symbol. For example, a document shows the financial contribution of
various sales groups to overall sales office activity. For the monthly
trend column you could show either a green plus + or a red minus –
symbol to represent positive or negative contribution trends.
If you select this option, select the symbol with which to replace the
values from the corresponding drop-down menu.

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• Image: Replace the normally displayed data with an image, such as an

arrow or green dot. You can specify the path to the image by typing the
address using one of the following:

Absolute path: The default, for example, c:/images/img.jpg

Relative to HTML Document directory: A relative path from the
document directory where the image is stored, for example,
images/img.jpg

On the network: A path on the local area network, which is in a
UNC (Universal Naming Convention) format, for example, //
machine_name/shared_folder/img.jpg
 On the web: A URL to an image file, for example: http://
www.microstrategy.com/images/img.jpg

9 To format the threshold values by adjusting the font, color, alignment,

and other options, make the appropriate selections within the Font,
Number, Alignment, and Color and Lines tabs. Click Help for more
information on the options available.

10 You can create, edit, and delete thresholds:

• It is often convenient to make a copy of a threshold if you plan to

create similar thresholds in the report. To copy a threshold, select the
threshold in the Advanced Threshold Editor and click Copy, then
paste the copied threshold by selecting the threshold and clicking
Paste.

• To delete a threshold, select the threshold and click Delete Threshold

.
• To move a threshold above or below other thresholds, select the
threshold and click Move up or Move down.

• To add an additional condition to a threshold, select the threshold and

click Add Condition .

• To clear the conditions from a threshold, select the threshold and click
Clear Conditions .

• To determine whether to apply the specified background color to

graph reports in which thresholds are met, select the Enable
Thresholds on Graph icon .

• To have an email automatically delivered to you or other users when

the threshold is met, click Create Email Alert or Create Mobile
Alert . For details on using the Alerts Editor, click Help.

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11 Selectors provide dashboards with interactivity, allowing each user to

change how he sees the data. A selector can change panels, the focus of a
Grid/Graph, or dynamic text fields (a text field that is a reference to an
object on a report) in a panel stack. Selectors that contain attribute,
custom group, or consolidation elements as selector items can also
include an option to display totals. The total is calculated for all the
selector items. A user can choose whether to display specific elements, all
of the elements at the same time, or the totals.

If you are formatting a grid in a document that is also the target of a

selector, you can specify whether to apply conditional formatting to the
grid when metrics are selected in the selector, when totals are selected, or
for both metrics and totals. To determine what parts of the report are
formatted when a threshold is met, select one of the following options on
the toolbar:

• To apply conditional formatting only when metrics are selected in the

selector, click the Format metrics only icon.

• To apply conditional formatting only when totals are selected in the

selector, click the Format subtotals only icon.
• To apply conditional formatting for both metrics and the Total option,
click the Format metrics and subtotals icon.

12 For steps to show totals in a selector, click Help.

13 To add another threshold condition, click Add a New Threshold ,

then repeat the appropriate steps above.

14 Click OK to save changes and return to the report or document.

Removing the extra Metrics column from a report

You can determine whether the word “Metrics”, which usually appears in the
column headers, is displayed on a report. If you remove this column from the
report, it is also removed if you export the report.

To remove the extra 'Metrics' column from a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the name of a report to run it.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

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3 Select the Remove extra column check box.

 IfOverlap
DHTML is disabled, from the Format drop-down list, select
Grid Titles, and then click the Go icon.

4 Click OK to apply the changes.

Displaying or hiding attribute forms

An attribute is a business concept. An attribute form is descriptive

information about an attribute. For example, the attribute Customer can
have the forms First Name, Last Name, Address, Email Address, and so on. A
form is a descriptive category for any data your organization saves about any
of its attributes. Just as an attribute element is a distinct occurrence of an
attribute, a form defines the attribute.

In Design Mode in MicroStrategy Web, report designers can choose which

attribute forms are displayed on a report. From the Report Objects panel,
right-click any attribute form and select the attribute forms you want to
appear on the report.

You can choose to display or hide any attribute forms related to the attributes
on your report.

To display or hide attribute forms

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report that you want to format.

2 From the Data menu, select the Edit Attribute Forms icon. The
Attribute Forms dialog box is displayed.
• If DHTML is disabled, click Go.

3 From the Current Attribute drop-down list, select the attribute whose
forms you want to display.

4 Select the check boxes next to the attribute forms you want to display. In
the Selected Forms area, you can see what attribute forms are currently
available for the given attribute.

5 To specify a display order for the attribute forms, click the name of the
attribute form to highlight it. Then, click the up or down arrow on the
right to reorder the selected form.

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• If DHTML is disabled, click the option in the Selected column for the
attribute form to move.

6 Click Apply to display the selected attribute forms in the report.

Letting users choose their own report filter

You can let each user choose the report filter that suits his analysis needs.
You can also let users design their own filters, within the constraints that you
define. To provide this functionality to users, you add prompts to a report.

An Object prompt that is made up of filters lets each analyst choose from
among your chosen set of filters, to apply the most useful filter for that
analyst’s reporting needs. A filter definition prompt allows analysts to design
their own filters, within your chosen constraints, before the report is
executed against your data source.

This provides an opportunity for individual analysts to define the data that is
returned from your data source. For details on Object prompts and filter
definition prompts, see Asking for user input: Prompts, page 296.

Adding usability to a Report Services document

Report Services documents are described in Report Services dashboards
and documents, page 13 in Chapter 1, Getting Started with MicroStrategy
Reporting. If you created a Report Services document, look carefully at your
final document before making it available to users, and consider the
following issues:

• Consider usability carefully. Be sure you have named the individual

datasets on the document with usable names. (A dataset is a set of data
that can be displayed on a document. A dataset can be a MicroStrategy
report, a MicroStrategy Intelligent Cube, or data imported directly from
an external data source.)
For example, a general title such as Customer Behavior which appears
above a list of products and percentages for each product, makes it
difficult for a user to intuitively understand what to do with the numbers
displayed. Perhaps from the context of the overall document it seems
clear that the percentages represent purchasing behavior by customers
for each of the products listed, but it is better to make this explicit in the
title of that dataset.

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• Spend a higher percentage of your design time making the information

understandable, rather than adding “bells and whistles”. A clean,
minimalist document is always easier to derive useful information from
than a busy, cramped, and distracting document.

Confirming your choice of graph style

When you first decide on a graph style to use, you generally choose a style
that is compatible with the data you want to display. Most graph styles have
specific requirements for the type of data that must exist on the report for the
graph style to appear properly, as described in Choosing a graph style,
page 58 in Chapter 2, Formatting a Report.

After you have made this decision, consider your graph report from a
usability perspective. How easy is it for an analyst to get detailed data from
the graph report?

For example, a pie graph is useful in many circumstances, but it usually only
shows percentages, which can leave an analyst unclear about specific
numbers. A good alternative might be a bar graph, which usually lists actual
numbers for each attribute element.

For complete details on requirements and recommendations for each graph

style available in MicroStrategy, see the Graphing chapter in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Enabling drilling and customizing drill maps

Analysts can drill through a report by clicking on an object on the report, to
analyze data that is closely related to the original report data. They can use
drilling to expose an entirely different object on a report to see what the data
looks like within a different context. If you need an introduction to drilling or
a better understanding of how users experience drilling, see Drilling into
related data, page 119 in Chapter 4, Answering Questions about Data.

A drill map is a set of restrictions you can define that shape the directions
that users can drill (called a drill path) on a report. If a report does not have a
drill map specifically defined, the default paths available are based on the
system hierarchy of the project. Any customized drill map you create can
override the default. You create a drill map using the Drill Map Editor.

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Analysts can perform several procedures to personalize their drilling

experience in a given report. For example, an analyst can determine whether
the drilled-from attribute automatically appears on the drilled-to report. For
more information on the personalizations related to drilling that an analyst
can define, see Controlling drilling behavior to affect report results,
page 135 in Chapter 4, Answering Questions about Data.

For more information on the default drill map, and steps and examples for
creating a new drill map, see the Drilling chapter of the MicroStrategy
Advanced Reporting Guide.

To enable or restrict drilling

1 In MicroStrategy Web, run the report that you want to enable drilling in.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 From the Drill options drop-down list, select one of the following options
to specify how users can drill in the report:
• No drilling: Users cannot drill up, down, or across to any objects.

• Drill down only: Users can only drill down on objects on the report.
They cannot drill up or across to other objects.

• Drill anywhere: Users can drill up, down, and across to any objects
available in the drop-down list.

4 Click OK to apply the changes and return to the report.

Including totals and subtotals

If you enable grand totals and/or subtotals for a metric, an analyst can
choose to display or hide them on any report that contains the metric. You
can also create a selection of subtotals from which users can choose the
subtotal function that best suits their analysis purposes.

For information, examples, and steps to enable grand totals and subtotals for
a metric, see Totals and subtotals, page 239.

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Including sorted data

Analysts can sort data in various ways on a report. But the report designer
can have report data appear automatically in a given sorted order, saving
analysts time and making some data trends clear immediately. You can sort
on any object placed on the report.

Information and an example for how to sort data in a column or row in either
ascending or descending order, called a Quick Sort, is in Sorting data,
page 74 in Chapter 3, Analyzing Data. Quick sorting is limited to one row or
column of data.

For directions to create a more advanced sort for rows, columns, and pages,
for either a grid report or a graph report, see the Advanced Sorting section in
the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide. Advanced sorting lets you
sort by multiple rows and columns.

Hierarchical display of grouped attribute elements

For custom groups to display hierarchically, hierarchical display must be
enabled for the custom group and the item display of at least one custom
group element must be expanded.

For information about creating custom groups and setting hierarchical

display, see the Custom Groups and Consolidations chapter in the
MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Grouping data by page: Adding objects to the page-by field in a

report
Page-by is the MicroStrategy functionality that lets you turn a long report
into a set of individual pages. The pages are created based on the objects on
the report, allowing users to see manageable subsets of otherwise large
quantities of data.

Users can place report objects in the page-by pane of a report, if they wish.
However, the report’s designer can also place report objects into the page-by
pane of a report. When a user executes the report, the user is presented with
a subset of what would otherwise be a long list of data.

For images of the page-by feature, see Grouping data by page, page 85.

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To add objects to the page-by field in a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, open the report in Design Mode.

2 Select the object to include in the page-by pane from either the All
Objects pane on the left or from the report’s template. Drag and drop the
object onto the page-by pane.

 You can place more than one object in the page-by pane. If you
decide to place multiple related attributes in the page-by pane, be
aware that order matters. Whatever you page-by first (furthest to
the left) affects the elements displayed in the other page-by fields.
Place multiple objects into the page-by pane in logical order, from
left to right.

For a list of objects that can be used as pages, see Grouping data by page,
page 85.

3 Save the report.

Adding consolidations and custom groups

A consolidation is a set of attribute elements grouped in a way that they were
not originally grouped within the project, so that you can use the
consolidation (the newly consolidated elements) just like a regular attribute
on a report. For example, you might group the Month elements into
December, January, and February and call the consolidation Winter; then
you group March, April, and May into a consolidation called Spring; and so
on. These names appear on the resulting report.

When you create a consolidation, you do not change your organization’s data
source definitions or the MicroStrategy metadata definitions. Consolidations
allow users to filter a report on a row-by-row basis.

A custom group is a group of filters that bring back from your data source a
specifically defined set of attribute elements to be displayed on the report.
Custom groups allow you to group and display attribute elements in a way
that is not defined in your data source. For example, you might create filters
to bring back data that is displayed as Top 5 Customers, Top 5 Employees
and Top 5 Items on the same report.

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The table below compares consolidations and custom groups.

Consolidation Custom Group

Example Grouping specific months into seasons, Displaying Top 5 Customers, Top 5
and displaying the seasons on a report. Employees, and Top 5 Items on one report.

Structure Groups of attribute elements (such as Groups of filters (such as top 5

January, February, and so on). revenue-producing customers, top 5
revenue-producing employees, and so on).

How it works Creates a virtual attribute to allow reporting Applies different filters to different rows of a
on an attribute that does not exist in the report.
data model.

The following table outlines other differences between custom groups and
consolidations.

Feature or Action Consolidation Custom Group

Arithmetic operations Yes, this can be done. No, this cannot be done.
(row level math)

Site of final calculation MicroStrategy Analytical Engine. Your data source.

SQL efficiency High. Low. One pass for each custom group
element.

Recursive definition Yes. No.

Display mode Fixed at element level only. Flexible and expandable.

Subtotals No. Yes.

For details on these differences, as well as business examples and steps to

create consolidations and custom groups, see the Consolidations and
Custom Groups chapter of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report limits

A report limit specifies a set of criteria used to restrict the data returned in a
result set after the report’s metrics are calculated. Because it is based on the
report’s final metric values, the report limit is applied after all the metrics are
calculated. A report limit can make a report more efficient to run, because
less information is returned from the data source.

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For an introduction to report limits and steps to apply a simple report limit,
see Specifying maximum and minimum values: Report limits, page 93 in
Chapter 3, Analyzing Data.

For an explanation of the difference between a filter and a report limit, as

well as examples of each and how they affect a report, see the Filtering
chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Determining evaluation order of calculations

You can change the evaluation order of various objects on a report to affect
how data is calculated for a given report. You can change the evaluation
order of consolidations, compound smart metrics (which are compound
metrics with smart totals enabled), report limits, and subtotals.

The default evaluation order on a report is:

1 Compound smart metrics

2 Consolidations, which are evaluated by their relative position on the

report grid:

• First, rows from left to right

• Then, columns from top to bottom

3 Report limits

4 Subtotals

 Notice that the metrics that are included in the evaluation order are
compound smart metrics. A metric must have smart totals enabled for
the evaluation order to affect it, otherwise the metric is always
calculated first. Only compound metrics can have smart totals
enabled.

For steps to change the evaluation order of these objects on a report, see
Evaluation order of calculations, page 104 in Chapter 3, Analyzing Data.

For additional information on changing the evaluation order of objects on a

report, see the following chapters of the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide:
• For the evaluation order of multiple consolidations, see the Custom
Groups and Consolidations chapter.

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• For the evaluation order of all other report objects, see the Reports
chapter.

For more information on compound metrics and smart totals, see Metrics
made up of metrics: Compound metrics, page 232 and Smart totals,
page 242.

Specifying the delivery options available to users subscribing

to a report
You can determine which delivery options are available to users subscribing
to a specific report. For example, you can specify which delivery schedules
can be used to subscribe to the report, or prevent users from subscribing to
the report altogether. Restricting the delivery schedules available when
subscribing to a report does not affect the delivery schedules available for
documents that use the report as a dataset.

 Ifbeenan existing report subscription uses a schedule or report that has

made unavailable for subscriptions, the report will not be
delivered.

For general information on subscribing to reports and documents, see the

MicroStrategy Web Help. For steps to specify delivery options for users
subscribing to a document, see the Formatting Documents chapter in the
Document Creation Guide.

You can create new schedules in Schedule Manager. For steps, see the
Scheduling Jobs and Administrative Tasks chapter in the System
Administration Guide.

To specify the delivery options available to users subscribing to a report

1 In MicroStrategy Web, click the name of the report to run it.

2 From the Tools menu, select Report Options. The Report Options dialog
box opens.

3 On the Advanced tab, select one of the following options under Schedules
for Subscriptions:
• To prevent users from subscribing to the report, select the Do not
allow this report to be scheduled option.

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• To allow users to subscribe to the report using any schedule

associated with the MicroStrategy project in which the report is
stored, select the Allow users to subscribe to all schedules option.

• To specify the list of schedules users can select from when subscribing
to the report, select the Only allow users to subscribe to schedules
in the list below option. Schedules in the list on the right are
available to users. Select a schedule from the list on the left and click
the Add icon to move it to the list on the right.

 Administrators can determine which schedules are included in

the list on the left. For more information, see the Web
Administrator Help.

4 Click OK to apply your changes.

Modifying an existing report

This section shows you how to open an existing report in Design Mode. You
can access the Report Editor in MicroStrategy Web.

To modify an existing report

1 Open MicroStrategy Web and log in to the project that contains the report
you want to modify. For steps, see Starting MicroStrategy, page 2.

2 Locate and double-click the report you want to modify. The report opens
in the Report Editor interface.

3 From the Home menu, select Design. The report’s template is displayed
within Design Mode.

The following image shows Design Mode in MicroStrategy Web

displaying the template for the sample report called Revenue Forecast.
On the right side of the image, you can see the report objects on the

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template: the Subcategory attribute, the Quarter attribute, and the

Revenue Forecast metric:

4 Modify the report in whatever way you wish, as follows:

• To add an object to the report, see the appropriate procedure in this

section, depending on what you want to add:

Reports: Adding attributes to a report, page 357

Reports: Adding metrics to a report, page 359

Reports: Adding a filter to a report, page 362

Reports: Adding prompts to a report, metric, or filter, page 367

• To modify an object on the report, see the appropriate procedure(s) in

this chapter, depending on what object you want to edit and the
changes you want to make to it:

 ToMicroStrategy
modify an attribute in a MicroStrategy Web report, open it in
Developer to make your changes. The changes
appear when you save the attribute and the report in Developer
and then open the report in Web.
 To modify a metric, see Editing a metric, page 248.
 To modify a filter, see Editing a filter, page 294.
 To modify a prompt, see Editing a prompt, page 347.

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
To modify an attribute, see your project designer or the
MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.

• To remove an object from the grid report, right-click the object's

header and select Remove from Grid. The objects removed from the
grid are still available in the Report Objects, if you want to add them
back to the grid. To remove an object from the grid and the Report
Objects pane, right-click the object's header and select Remove from
Report.

• To add usability features to the report, see Adding features for users,
page 387.

5 Save the report. For details on how a report is saved, see Saving a report,
page 382.

 Ifseeyouhowmodify an object on a report and want to execute the report to

your changes appear, you must first save and close the report,
then re-open the report to see your changes.

Creating other types of reports

Creating a graph report

A graph report provides a different way to display report data than in the
standard grid format. Depending on the graph style you choose, viewing
report data in a graph can often highlight trends or allow comparisons that
are difficult when viewing data in a grid.

For details on designing a graph report, and for graph-related options and
other details, see the Graphing chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced
Reporting Guide. If you are working on a graph report, you can also see
window-specific information on graphing options by clicking Help.

Creating a Report Services document

A MicroStrategy Report Services document contains datasets from one or
more reports. This data is positioned and formatted, resulting in a single
display of presentation quality. (A dataset is a set of data that can be
displayed on a document, Report Services dashboard, or Visual Insight

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dashboard. A dataset can be a MicroStrategy report, a MicroStrategy

Intelligent Cube, or data imported directly from an external data source.)

When you create a document, you can specify the data that appears; control
the layout, formatting, grouping, and subtotaling of data; and specify the
position of page breaks. In addition, you can insert pictures and draw
borders in the document. All of these capabilities allow you to create reports
that are suitable for presentation to management and for printing
boardroom quality material.

The image above shows a sample production and operational report

document. It lists all sales opportunities in the pipeline, and it groups those
opportunities based on sales region, sales district, and sales representative.
This document also provides a snapshot of each opportunity’s current status
and measures key metrics such as unweighted and weighted sales forecasts.

Sales managers can use this document to see a general overview of the sales
pipeline and to identify key opportunities and opportunity statuses. The data
in this document can help you evaluate sales opportunities for each sales

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representative and to prioritize those opportunities that have a greater

probability of being closed.

You must have MicroStrategy Report Services to be able to design and work
with Report Services documents. Detailed information to create and modify
Report Services documents can be found in the MicroStrategy Report
Services Document Creation Guide.

The document types that can be created in MicroStrategy include the

following:

• Scorecards and dashboards: designed for visual impact, these documents

provide a distilled view of the business, organized in adaptive sections or
zones.

• Managed metrics reports: with a quantitative focus, these documents

present lists of metrics or process-driven tabular views of the business.

• Production and operational reports: designed for production operations

management, these documents present data in hierarchical categories or
bands and can span hundreds of printed pages.

• Invoices and statements: these documents use transaction and

sub-transaction level data necessary for billing, collection, and customer
service.

• Business reports: designed for financial and other statutory business

reporting, these documents present comprehensive data in print and
electronic forms.

Creating an HTML document

HTML documents are a popular way to create dashboards and scorecards to
display a group of reports within the MicroStrategy platform. Dashboards
and scorecards display and distribute data from business intelligence
projects. Scorecards typically follow a specific methodology and are focused
on key metrics within a business area. Dashboards, on the other hand, tend
to provide key metrics along with summary information.

HTML documents in the MicroStrategy platform are HTML containers or

shells into which you can place MicroStrategy reports and other graphics,
and control the formatting and appearance with style sheets. You can modify
the appearance of an HTML document just like any other HTML page, to
include text, images, hyperlinks, tables, and one or more report objects.

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For details on how to create HTML documents, see the HTML Documents
chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting Guide.

Designing reports that use OLAP Services

OLAP Services lets MicroStrategy Developer, Web, and Office users make
use of features that slice and dice data in reports without re-executing SQL
against the data source. This improves performance by resulting in quicker
data display within a report as users analyze and manipulate the data.

If you own OLAP Services and analysts will be taking advantage of it, its
features can be useful for a report designer to understand. When you design
a report, you should take into account the fact that users can view subsets of
data easily with an OLAP Services “view report”. This can allow you to create
larger and more inclusive reports, since analysts can later create smaller
reports, called view reports, made up of only that data they want to see.

Specifically, OLAP Services surfaces in a grid report in two places:

• The Report Objects pane

• The View Filter pane

Each of these features is described below. To see descriptions and images of

these panes in the Report Editor, see MicroStrategy Developer Report
Editor interface, page 423.

View filters and view reports

Unlike a report filter that restricts how much data is retrieved from the data
source, a view filter dynamically limits the data being displayed on a report
without re-executing the report against the warehouse.

This feature allows analysts to create multiple reports out of a larger, parent
report, without stressing the system or your data source. It also allows
different users to access the same report cache but see different data
according to their needs.

The advantage of using both standard report filters and view filters on a
report is that the report can use the standard report filter to bring back more
data than can usefully be displayed at any one time. The analyst can then use
a view filter to change the data displayed, as long as it falls within the data

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already retrieved from the database. The analyst generates a view report,
which is the result of a view filter. A view filter does not trigger re-execution
against the data source. This capability translates to improved response time
and decreased database load.

A report designer does not need to enable view filters for users to take
advantage of them. If you have OLAP Services, view filters can be used on
any report on which a user wants to use them.

For additional information on report caches and how they work with your
data source, see Report caches, page 170 in Chapter 5, Answering Prompts
and Refreshing Data. For steps to use a view filter, click Help.

Derived metrics
Derived metrics are metrics that a report analyst can use to perform
calculations based on report results. A derived metric performs a calculation
on the fly with the data available in a report without re-executing the report
against the database. Derived metrics are created based on existing metrics
in the report. Since derived metrics are evaluated in memory, their
computation does not require any SQL execution in the database. They are
evaluated on the client for MicroStrategy Developer, or on Intelligence
Server for MicroStrategy Web.

A report designer does not need to enable derived metrics for users to take
advantage of them. If you have OLAP Services, derived metrics can be used
on any report on which a user wants to use them.

Dynamic aggregation
Dynamic aggregation allows a report analyst to change the level at which the
data on a report is aggregated. (For an introduction to levels, see Providing
business context: Calculating metric levels, page 222.) The analyst can
make the change on the fly, while reviewing the report data. Dynamic
aggregation occurs when report objects (such as an attribute or an attribute
form) are moved from the grid to the Report objects pane. As attributes are
moved on and off the report between the grid and the Report objects pane,
metric values are dynamically recalculated at the level of the objects
remaining on the grid.

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A report designer does not need to enable dynamic aggregation for users to
take advantage of it. If you have OLAP Services, dynamic aggregation can be
used on any report on which a user wants to use it.

To see an image of the Report objects pane, see MicroStrategy Developer

Report Editor interface, page 423.

Building a query using alternative data access

methods
Freeform SQL and Query Builder are MicroStrategy tools that provide you
alternative methods to access your business data and create reports.

Freeform SQL
Freeform SQL is a MicroStrategy tool that allows you to write your own SQL
statements to run directly against a data warehouse or operational data
store, giving you full control over accessing your data.

Traditionally, you use the MicroStrategy Engine to generate SQL to run

against one specific relational database to return results for a desired report.
In addition to generating reports in the traditional way, you can also use your
own customized SQL statements to generate reports from operational
systems included in a MicroStrategy project. This capability can save you
time since you do not need to place the data into a data mart or data
warehouse first.

The Freeform SQL feature allows you to use your own SQL statements to
access data from various ODBC data sources, including relational databases,
Excel files, and flat files, as long as they are included in the MicroStrategy
environment. Since you create your own SQL statements to create reports
with Freeform SQL, a strong knowledge of how to create and use SQL
statements is essential.

For detailed information on how to create a Freeform SQL report, see the
Custom SQL Queries chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

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Query Builder
Query Builder is a graphical user interface that helps guide you when
building SQL queries that can adapt to different data models. Query Builder
allows you to run queries against ODBC data sources that are not easily
modeled to an attribute and fact schema. This includes databases that are a
collection of flat tables rather than being defined into fact and lookup tables.

Query Builder provides an easy way to quickly access your ODBC data
sources without having to write any SQL, which is required by the Freeform
SQL tool. You can create queries to be run against imported database tables,
which allows you to begin reporting and analysis with MicroStrategy without
performing the project creation step of modeling attribute and fact schemas.
(The modeling step is necessary for MicroStrategy’s ROLAP Engine to define
attribute and fact schemas.) You can also import tables into a project’s
Warehouse Catalog using the Query Builder feature.

Query Builder allows you more control over the SQL generated against your
database systems, without the need for extensive knowledge on how to create
SQL statements. A basic knowledge of how SQL statements use tables,
columns, and joins to build queries is essential.

For detailed information on how to create a Query Builder report, see the
Custom SQL Queries chapter in the MicroStrategy Advanced Reporting
Guide.

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 A
REPORTING INTERFACES IN
A.

MICROSTRATEGY

Introduction

If you are new to MicroStrategy, use this appendix to help you become
familiar with where things are in MicroStrategy Web and Developer.

If you are already familiar with MicroStrategy, use this appendix to identify
icons and other features you can take advantage of for quicker access to your
most commonly used functionality.

This appendix includes OLAP Services features as they appear in the

described interfaces. This information is useful if you own MicroStrategy
OLAP Services. For background information about OLAP Services, see OLAP
Services, page 15.

The Developer and Web interfaces for creating and editing reports and
documents can also be accessed from within MicroStrategy Office, if you own
it. For details on MicroStrategy Office, see the MicroStrategy Office User
Guide.

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MicroStrategy Developer interface

The MicroStrategy Developer interface has three panes:
• Folder List: Where all the project folders that hold your reports and
report-related objects are accessible. The Folder List displays all the
project sources, projects, application and schema object folders, and the
administrative functions for your business intelligence system. When all
panes are displayed, the Folder List is the center pane of the Developer
interface.

If the Folder List does not automatically appear when you log in to
MicroStrategy Developer, from the View menu select Folder List.

• Object Viewer: Where the contents of each folder, such as reports or

report objects, are displayed as you browse through folders in the Folder
List. The right pane of the MicroStrategy Developer interface is the Object
Viewer.

• Shortcut Bar: This pane contains icons that allow you instant access to
your favorite or most frequently used folders. Simply click on a shortcut
icon to jump immediately to the folder to which it is linked. You can
create a shortcut to any folder that appears in your Folder List. You can
add or remove shortcuts at any time. For steps, see Adding and removing
shortcuts from the Shortcut Bar, page 418. When all panes are displayed,
the Shortcut Bar is the left pane of the Developer interface.

Adding and removing shortcuts from the Shortcut Bar

Shortcuts are icons on the left side of Developer that provide instant access
to commonly used folders. Shortcut icons are displayed within groups, called
shortcut groups. The image below shows the two default shortcut groups,

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Tutorial Shortcuts and Other Shortcuts. The shortcut icons within the
Tutorial Shortcuts group are displayed:

Use the following procedures to create new shortcut groups, add shortcut
icons to groups, and rename or remove icons and groups.

Creating a shortcut group

Shortcut icons are displayed within groups, called shortcut groups. By

default, the Shortcut Bar contains two shortcut groups, namely Tutorial
Shortcuts and Other Shortcuts. You can create additional groups of shortcut
icons, which can be useful for large MicroStrategy implementations.

You can view the shortcuts within each group by clicking the group name in
the Shortcut Bar. For example, when you click Tutorial Shortcuts in the
Shortcut Bar, the Tutorial Shortcuts group expands to display the shortcuts
to the Tutorial project login, the Tutorial project’s My Reports folder, the
Tutorial project’s Public Objects folder, and so on. The image above displays
the Tutorial Shortcuts group and its default shortcut icons.

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To create a shortcut group

1 Right-click an empty area of the Shortcut Bar and select Add Group.

2 In the Create a new shortcut group dialog box, type a name for the new
group and click OK. Your new shortcut group appears in the Shortcut
Bar.

Adding a shortcut icon to a group

When you want to create a new shortcut to a commonly used folder or

project, you must create the shortcut icon within an existing shortcut group.

To add a shortcut icon to a group in the Shortcut Bar

1 On the Shortcut Bar, click the shortcut group to which you want to add
your new shortcut. Any shortcuts which are currently in the group appear
in the Shortcut Bar.

2 In the Folder List, right-click the project or folder for which you want to
create a shortcut, and select Add to Shortcut Bar. A new shortcut icon
appears in the Shortcut Bar.

 Bythedefault, the name of the shortcut icon is the same as the name of
folder or project for which you created the shortcut. You can
rename any shortcut icon by right-clicking it and selecting Rename
Shortcut.

Removing a shortcut icon from the Shortcut Bar

To remove a shortcut icon from the Shortcut Bar

1 Right-click the shortcut and select Remove from Shortcut Bar.

2 In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

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Removing a shortcut group from the Shortcut Bar

If you remove a group that has existing shortcut icons within it, the shortcut
icons are deleted also.

To remove a shortcut group

1 Click the shortcut group you want to remove. The shortcut icons which
are currently in the group appear in the Shortcut Bar.

2 Right-click an empty area of the Shortcut Bar and select Remove Group.

3 In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes to remove the shortcut group.
All shortcut icons within this group are also removed.

Renaming a shortcut icon or shortcut group

By default, the name of a shortcut icon is the same as the name of the folder
or project for which you created the shortcut. You can rename any shortcut
icon by right-clicking it and selecting Rename Shortcut.

To rename a shortcut group

1 Click the shortcut group you want to rename.

2 Right-click an empty area of the Shortcut Bar and select Rename Group.

3 In the Rename a shortcut group dialog box, type a name for the shortcut
group and click OK. The shortcut group is renamed.

Navigating through Developer

Use the following menus and tools in MicroStrategy Developer to access the
different reporting features of MicroStrategy.

 The menus, options, and icons available to you depend on your

security privileges. For example, if you do not have administrative
privileges, you do not see the Administration menu.

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Developer menus

From the Developer menus, you can do the following.

 Common Microsoft Windows-style menus and menu options are not

included here, such as the Edit menu, which contains Cut, Copy,
Paste, and so forth.

Menu Description

File Create new objects and folders.

View Change the appearance of the object icons in the Object Viewer (Developer’s right-hand
pane). Show or hide the Status Bar, Shortcut Bar, and Folder List.

Go Move one level up in the Folder List or go directly to a project’s home page.

Tools Use general Developer tools, such as:

• Search Editor
• Developer Preferences
• Change Password

Administration Access administrative functions, such as:

• Project Configuration Editor
• Database Instance Wizard
• Report Scheduler
• User Manager Integrity Checker
• Event Viewer

Schema Access project design tools such as the Project Creation Wizard and the Attribute and
Fact Creation Wizards.

Window Close all open editors with one click.

Help Access the online help system and useful MicroStrategy websites.

Developer interface icons

From the Developer toolbar, you can do the following:

Name Icon Description

Create a New Creates a new report or report-related object. The objects you can create
Object depend on your privileges and your location in the Folder List.

Cut Cuts the selected objects. Use this to move or remove objects from the My
Personal Objects folder (and the folders within it).

Copy Copies the selected objects. Use this to duplicate objects.

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Name Icon Description

Paste Pastes the objects you have cut or copied. Use this to move or duplicate
objects in the My Personal Objects folder (and the folders within it).

Delete the object Deletes the selected objects.

selected

Rename the Renames the selected object in the My Personal Objects folder (and the
object selected folders within it).

View Object Displays information about the selected object’s general properties such
Properties as type, location, description, creation and modification dates, owner and
user access.

Search Opens the Search Editor. Use this to search for report-related objects.

Edit the object Opens the appropriate editor for the selected object. Use this to change
selected the settings of an object’s definition such as formatting, sorting, defining
totals or subtotals, assigning thresholds, and so on.

Run Executes the selected report. Use this to view your business data in an
existing report.

View Lists options to change the display of the object icons in Developer’s
right-hand pane.

Show or hide the Turns the Folder List display on or off. The Folder List displays all the
Folder List projects to which you have access, as well as the folders containing
objects within those projects.

Refresh object Refreshes the current display.

with latest
definition

Go to project Displays the home page of the current project.

Go one level up Moves one level up in the Folder List. Use this for quick navigation among
report-related objects and their folders.

MicroStrategy Developer Report Editor interface

If you have report designer privileges, you can use the Report Editor in either
MicroStrategy Developer or MicroStrategy Web to create new reports in
MicroStrategy. (You can of course also access these editors if you have other
sets of privileges, such as Administrator, and so on.) Use this section to

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familiarize yourself with the Report Editor interface. The following image
shows the Report Editor in Developer, with the sample Revenue Forecast
report ready to be edited within it:

For details on report designer privileges and the report designer role, see
Report designer role, page 204 in Chapter 7, Building Query Objects and
Queries, for Designers.

Finding your way around the Developer Report Editor

Refer to the image above as you read about the various areas or panes in the
Developer Report Editor. You can perform the following tasks within the
appropriate Report Editor pane:

• Report Objects pane: (top left) (This pane appears only if you have
MicroStrategy OLAP Services. See OLAP Services, page 15 for details.)
Where you can see a summary of all the objects you have included on
your report.
There may be more objects in this pane than are displayed on the
executed report, because OLAP Services lets analysts quickly remove or
add objects from this pane directly to the report template. When the

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report is executed, the MicroStrategy Engine generates SQL that includes

all the objects in this Report Objects pane, not just the objects that are
displayed in the report after it is executed. For details on using the Report
Objects pane, see Designing reports that use OLAP Services, page 413.

• Object Browser pane: (center left) Where you navigate through the
project to locate objects to include on the report. For details on report
objects, see MicroStrategy objects, page 209.

• My Shortcuts pane: (bottom left) Enables you to access any folder in the
Object Browser quickly. Creating shortcuts can save you time if you
repeatedly browse to the same folders. For details on creating shortcuts,
see Quick object access: Creating shortcuts to objects, page 214.

• View Filter pane: (top right) (This pane is only available if you have
MicroStrategy OLAP Services. See OLAP Services, page 15 for details.)
Where you apply a special kind of filter to any object that is in the Report
Objects pane. View filters do not modify the SQL for the report like
normal report filters do. Instead, view filters are applied to the overall
result set after the SQL is executed and results are returned from the data
source. This can help improve report execution performance. For details
on using view filters, see Designing reports that use OLAP Services,
page 413.

• Report Filter pane: (center right) Where you add filtering conditions to a
report. Filtering conditions can be made up of attributes, metrics,
advanced filter qualifications, and shortcuts to an existing report filter.
The Report Filter pane allows you to create a filter without having to open
a separate object editor (the Filter Editor). Simple filters can be
conveniently created by dragging and dropping objects from the Object
Browser into this pane to create a filter. For details on creating filters, see
Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

• Report View pane: (bottom right) Where you define your report layouts
by dragging and dropping objects from the Object Browser onto this
report view pane. You can create a report to serve as a template for other
reports; for details on templates, see Designing a report’s structure:
Templates, page 348.

• Page-by pane: (top of Report View pane) Where you place subsets of
your report results to be displayed as separate pages of the executed
report. For details on adding page-by functionality to a report, see
Grouping data by page, page 85.

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MicroStrategy Web interface

The MicroStrategy Web interface is a set of web pages where you can browse
through folders containing reports and objects, preferences, and so on for
your projects. From the various pages in MicroStrategy Web, you can
perform a number of tasks with the reports, objects, and preferences
available on each page.

Navigating the report interface in MicroStrategy Web

When you execute and view a report in MicroStrategy Web, the interface
allows you to manipulate and explore the report data you are viewing.

 The menus, options, and icons available to you depend on your

security privileges. For example, if you do not have administrative
privileges, you do not see the Administration menu.

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Web menus

From the interface that is displayed when viewing an executed report in

MicroStrategy Web, you can perform the following.

 Common Microsoft Windows-style menus and menu options are not

included here, such as the Edit menu, which contains Cut, Copy,
Paste, and so forth.

Menu Description

Home Create, save, export, subscribe to, and view the details of reports, and send reports to
the History List.
Change the view of a report by choosing Design, Grid, Graph, or Grid and Graph view.

Tools Convert the report to a document.

Change the display using the following report options:
• Merge or lock column and row headers
• Show color banding on the report
• Enable outline mode
• Show thresholds
You can also show or hide the following:
• Report filter
• View filter
• Object Browser
• MicroStrategy Web toolbars
• Pivot and sort buttons
• Page-by axis
• A list of reports related to the current report

Data Manipulate objects and data on the report.

For example, you can do the following:
• Swap the columns and rows
• Add objects to a report
• Edit view filter conditions
• Sort data
• Drill on a report
• View only specific data on the report by filtering on selections
• Reset, refresh, or re-prompt the report
• Insert a new metric
• Rename objects on the report
• Include attribute forms on the report
• Enable and customize totals
• Add and edit thresholds

Format Format various aspects of a grid or graph report.

For example, you can do the following:
• Format the font, size, alignment, and colors of various objects on the grid or graph
report
• Resize the columns and rows

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Web interface icons

From the MicroStrategy Web toolbars, you can perform the following:

Name Icon Description

Save As Saves the report.

Undo The previous action performed is undone, and the report returns to
its status prior to the most recent action.

Redo The previously undone action is redone, and the report returns to its
status prior to undoing the most recent action.

Design Changes the report to Design Mode so that you can modify the
definition of your report.

Grid Displays the report as a grid, similar to a standard spreadsheet

style.

Graph Displays the report as a graph. MicroStrategy can display data in

numerous graph types and styles.

Grid and Graph Displays the report in both grid and graph views at the same time on
the screen.

Add to History List Adds the report to the History List of the logged-in user. History List
is an area in MicroStrategy Web where you can store report results
and document results from various sources.

Print Lets you specify print settings for the report and print the report.

Send Now Lets you send the report to specified email addresses.

Schedule delivery Opens the Subscribe to History List dialog box, which lets you set up
to History List automatic delivery of a report/document to your History List on a
specific schedule.

Export Exports all or a portion of the report in Excel, CSV, HTML, or plain
text format.

PDF Lets you specify settings to convert and display reports in PDF
format.

Full Screen Mode Maximizes your view of the report by removing most of the Web
toolbars. You can toggle Full Screen Mode on or off.

New Lets you create a new report using a pre-defined report template.

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Name Icon Description

Convert to Converts the report into a Report Services document. The new
Document document opens, with the report displayed as a Grid/Graph in the
Detail Header.

Report Objects Shows or hides the Report Objects pane, which displays all objects
in the report. This icon is available only if you own MicroStrategy
OLAP Services.

All Objects Shows or hides the All Objects pane, which lets you search for,
locate, and select objects that are part of the project.

Notes Shows or hides the Notes pane, which lets you add a new note or
edit an existing note. Notes can include details about the report,
information on how the report was created, reasons to use it,
queries about the data displayed, or anything useful to you and
other users who execute the same report.

Related Reports Shows or hides the Related Reports pane, which displays a list of
reports related to the objects in the current report.

Page-by Axis Shows or hides the page-by pane. Page-by is used to group large
amounts of data into separate pages of the report, allowing you to
view a subset of data.

View Filter Shows or hides the View Filter pane, which lets you apply a filter
on-the-fly to any attribute or metric on the report. This icon is
available only if you own MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

Report Details Shows or hides the Report Details pane, which displays the report
description and filter details for the report. The Report Details pane
may also display the prompt details and template details of the
report.

Prompt Details Shows or hides the Prompt Details pane, which displays the prompt
information for all prompts in the report. The information includes the
name of each prompt and its answers.

Show Pivot Shows or hides pivot buttons on column headers of a grid report.
Buttons Pivoting lets you re-arrange the columns and rows in a report.

Show Sort Shows or hides the sort buttons on the column headers of a grid
Buttons report. The sort buttons let you quickly sort the data in either
ascending or descending order.

Graph Zones Shows or hides the Graph zone list. This list displays all the objects
on the graph report and lets you move them to and from the
Categories, Series, and Metrics zones on a graph report.

Report Options Lets you format a grid report.

Sort Lets you specify advanced sort options. You can sort the data in
rows or columns either in ascending or descending order.

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Name Icon Description

Drill Lets you customize the drill options for the attributes of a report. For
details on drilling, see Drilling into related data, page 119.

Filter on Displays the rows and columns for the selected attribute in a report.
Selections For example, if a report has more rows of information than you wish
to view, you can specify which rows to display.

Refresh Refreshes the current display.

Re-prompt Lets you answer the prompt again, thereby creating a new filter for
the report results.

Swap Rows and Moves all report objects in the rows of the report to the columns of
Columns the report, and moves all report objects in the columns of the report
to the rows of the report.

Insert New Metric Lets you create a new derived metric. Derived metrics are metrics
that you can create based on existing metrics in the report. This icon
is available only if you own MicroStrategy OLAP Services.

Rename/Edit Lets you rename an object in a report.

Objects

Edit Attribute Lets you select the attribute forms to be displayed on the report. For
Forms example, the Customer attribute can have the forms such as First
Name, Last Name, Address, Email Address, and so on.

Toggle Attribute Shows or hides the attribute forms of an attribute in the report.
Form Names

Show Totals Shows or hides subtotals and grand totals included in the report.

Edit Totals Lets you include or remove subtotals from the report.

Quick Thresholds Displays the quick thresholds that you can add to a report. Quick
thresholds apply green, red, or yellow colors or symbols to metric
values on your report.

Toggle Thresholds Shows or hides thresholds on the report.

Visual Threshold Opens the Visual Threshold Editor, which lets you define and format
Editor a simple threshold.

Advanced Lets you create advanced thresholds based on multiple metrics and
Thresholds Editor uses more complex expressions than a simple threshold.

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Name Icon Description

Legend Shows or hides the legend in the graph report.

Data Values Shows or hides the data values in the graph.

Series by Row Uses the objects on the rows of the report as the series (data
markers) of the graph report. The objects on the columns are used
as the categories of the graph report.

Series by Column Uses the objects on the columns of the report as the series (data
markers) of the graph report. The objects on the rows are used as
the categories of the graph report.

Auto Arrange Rearranges the layout of a graph report. This helps you to
automatically reposition the layout of the MicroStrategy pre-8.x
graph reports containing overlapping components when you open
them in MicroStrategy 8.x Web.

Apply Applies the specified number of categories and series that are to be
displayed on the graph.

Autostyle Applies a selected autostyle to quickly format a report. An autostyle

is a set of report formatting that is predefined and can be applied to
reports to create a consistent look and feel.

Banding Applies or removes background colors for alternate rows on a grid

report. Banding helps you view and analyze the data on a report.

Outline Enables or disables outline mode for the report. You can use outline
mode to collapse or expand sections of related data in the report.

Merge Column Merges multiple column headers that are identical into a single
Headers header.

Merge Row Merges multiple row headers that are identical into a single header.
Headers

Lock Row Retains the display of row headers when scrolling horizontally in a
Headers report so that when a user scrolls through a large report, the row
headers remain visible.

Lock Column Retains the display of column headers when scrolling vertically in a
Headers report so that when a user scrolls through a large report, the column
headers remain visible.

Auto Fit to Enlarges or shrinks the report so that all data on the report fits in the
Contents columns and rows.

Auto Fit to Enlarges or shrinks the report so that it fits in the window.
Window

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Name Icon Description

Advanced Grid Lets you format the template of the grid report.
Formatting

Advanced Graph Lets you format the graph report.

Formatting

MicroStrategy Displays a drop-down menu that provides access to Projects,

Home, Shared Reports, My Reports, History List, My Subscriptions,
Preferences, Create Report, Create Document, and Logout.

MicroStrategy Web Report Editor interface

If you have Web Professional privileges, you can use the Report Editor in
MicroStrategy Web to create new reports. (You can of course also access this
editor if you have other sets of privileges, such as Administrator, and so on.)
Use this section to familiarize yourself with the Report Editor interface. The
following image shows the Report Editor in Web, with the sample Revenue
Forecast report ready to be edited within it:

For details on report designer privileges and the report designer role, see
Report designer role, page 204 in Chapter 7, Building Query Objects and
Queries, for Designers.

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Basic Reporting Guide Reporting Interfaces in MicroStrategy A

Finding your way around the MicroStrategy Web Report

Editor

Refer to the image above as you read about the various areas or panes in the
Web Report Editor. You can perform the following tasks within the
appropriate Report Editor pane:

• Object Browser pane: (left-hand side) Where you navigate through the
project to locate objects to include in the report. In the Object Browser
you can navigate to All Objects in the project. If you have MicroStrategy
OLAP Services, you can also choose to navigate only through Report
Objects:
 All Objects pane: Where you see the list of all the objects available in
your project.

Report Objects pane: (This pane appears only if you have
MicroStrategy OLAP Services. See OLAP Services, page 15 for
details.) Where you can see a summary of all the objects you have
included on your report.

There may be more objects in this pane than are displayed on the
executed report, because OLAP Services lets analysts quickly remove
or add objects from this pane directly to the report template. When
the report is executed, the MicroStrategy Engine generates SQL that
includes all the objects in this Report Objects pane, not just the
objects that are displayed in the report after it is executed. For details
on using the Report Objects pane, see Designing reports that use
OLAP Services, page 413.

Notes pane: Where you can see the notes that include report details,
such as information on how the report was created, reasons to use it,
or queries about the data displayed.

Related Reports pane: Where you can see a list of reports and
documents related to the objects in the current report.

• Report Filter pane: (top right) Click Edit Report Filter to display the
Report Filter and View Filter panes:
 Report Filter pane: Where you add filtering conditions to a report.
Filtering conditions can be made up of attributes, metrics, advanced
filter qualifications, and shortcuts to an existing report filter. The
Report Filter pane allows you to create a filter without having to open
a separate object editor (the Filter Editor). Simple filters can be
conveniently created by dragging and dropping objects from the
Object Browser into this pane to create a filter. For details on creating
filters, see Filtering data on a report: Filters, page 250.

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
View Filter pane: (This pane is only available if you have
MicroStrategy OLAP Services. See OLAP Services, page 15 for
details.) Where you apply a special kind of filter to any object that is in
the Report Objects pane. View filters do not modify the SQL for the
report like normal report filters do. Instead, view filters are applied to
the overall result set after the SQL is executed and results are returned
from the data source. This can help improve report execution
performance. For details on using view filters, see Designing reports
that use OLAP Services, page 413.

• Page-by pane: (center right) Where you place subsets of your report
results to be displayed as separate pages of the executed report. For
details on adding page-by functionality to a report, see Grouping data by
page, page 85.

• Template pane: (bottom right) Where you define your report layouts by
dragging and dropping objects from the Object Browser onto this report
template pane. For details on templates, see Designing a report’s
structure: Templates, page 348.

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GLOSSARY

application object MicroStrategy object used to provide analysis of and insight

into relevant data. Application objects are developed in
MicroStrategy Developer and they are the building blocks for
reports and documents. Application objects include these
object types: report, document, template, filter, metric,
custom group, consolidation, prompt.

attribute A data level defined by the system or project architect and

associated with one or more columns in a data warehouse
table. Attributes include data classifications like Region,
Order, Customer, Age, Item, City, and Year. They provide a
context for metric or factual data to be aggregated or filtered
at a given level. An attribute on a report serves as a label for a
group of metrics.

See also:
• attribute element

• attribute form

• child attribute

• parent attribute

attribute element A value of any of the attribute forms of an attribute. For

example, New York and Dallas are elements of the attribute
City; January, February, and March are elements of the
attribute Month.

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attribute form One of several columns associated with an attribute that are
different aspects of the same thing. ID, Name, Last Name,
Long Description, and Abbreviation could all be forms of the
attribute Customer. Every attribute supports its own
collection of forms.

autostyle A set of formatting that applies a color scheme, font style, and
font type to a report.

axis A vector along which data is displayed. There are three

axes—Row, Column, and Page. When a report designer
defines a template for a report, he places template
units—attributes, dimensions, metrics, consolidations, and
custom groups—along each axis.

See also:

• column

• row

business intelligence A system that facilitates the analysis of volumes of complex

(BI) system data by providing the ability to view data from multiple
perspectives.

cache A special data store holding recently accessed information for

quick future access. This is normally done for frequently
requested reports, whose execution is faster because they
need not run against the database. A cache stores results
from the data warehouse separately for each report and can
be used by new job requests that require the same data.

category In a graph report, the set of data along the X-axis. Categories
generally correspond to the rows of a grid report. An example
of a category is a bar in a bar graph.

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child attribute The lower-level attribute in an attribute relationship. “Lower”

refers to the attribute’s position within a hierarchy, with
respect to another attribute.

See also:

• parent attribute

• relationship

column A one-dimensional vertical array of values in a report table.

See also:

• axis

• row

conditional metric Conditionality of a metric enables you to associate an existing

filter object with the metric so that only data that meets the
filter conditions is included in the calculation.

See also:

• filter

custom group An object made up of an ordered collection of elements called

custom group elements. Each element contains its own set of
filtering qualifications.

data warehouse 1) A database, typically very large, containing the historical

data of an enterprise. Used for decision support or business
intelligence, it organizes data and allows coordinated updates
and loads.

2) A copy of transaction data specifically structured for query,

reporting, and analysis.

derived metric A metric based on data already available in a report. It is

calculated by Intelligence Server, not in the database. Use a
derived metric to perform column math, that is, calculations

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Glossary Basic Reporting Guide

on other metrics, on report data after it has been returned

from the database.

drill A method of obtaining supplementary information after a

report has been executed. The new data is retrieved by
re-querying the personal Intelligent Cube or database at a
different attribute or fact level.

See also:

• page-by

• pivot

• sort

• subtotal

dynamic aggregation Changing the level of report aggregation on-the-fly, while the
report results are being reviewed. Allows metric values to be
aggregated at different levels depending on the attributes
included on the report without having to re-execute the
report against the data warehouse. Dynamic aggregation
occurs when the attributes included on the report layout
changes.

element browsing Navigating through hierarchies of attribute elements. For

example, viewing the list of months in a year.

fact 1) A measurement value, often numeric and typically

aggregatable, stored in a data warehouse.

2) A schema object representing a column in a data

warehouse table and containing basic or aggregated
numbers—usually prices, or sales in dollars, or inventory
quantities in counts.

See also metric.

filter A MicroStrategy object that specifies the conditions that the

data must meet to be included in the report results. Using a
filter on a report narrows the data to consider only the

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information that is relevant to answer your business

question, since a report queries the database against all the
data stored in the data warehouse.

A filter is composed of at least one qualification, which is the

actual condition that must be met for the data to be included
on a report. Multiple qualifications in a single filter are
combined using logical operators. Examples include “Region
= Northeast” or “Revenue > $1 million”.

A filter is normally implemented in the SQL WHERE clause.

hierarchy A set of attributes defining a meaningful path for element

browsing or drilling.

metadata A repository whose data associates the tables and columns of

a data warehouse with user-defined attributes and facts to
enable the mapping of the business view, terms, and needs to
the underlying database structure. A metadata repository can
reside on the same server as the data warehouse or on a
different database server. It can even be held in a different
RDBMS.

metric 1) A business calculation defined by an expression built with

functions, facts, attributes, or other metrics. For example:
sum(dollar_sales) or [Sales] - [Cost]

2) The MicroStrategy object that contains the metric

definition. A metric on a report shows a list of values used for
analytical calculations.

See also fact.

object Conceptually, an object is the highest grouping level of

information about one concept, used by the user to achieve
the goal of specified data analysis. More concretely, an object
is any item that can be selected and manipulated, including
folders, reports, facts, metrics, and so on.

page-by Segmenting data in a grid report by placing available

attributes, consolidations, and metrics on a third axis called

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the Page axis. Since a grid is two-dimensional, only a slice of

the cube can be seen at any one time. The slice is
characterized by the choice of elements on the Page axis. By
varying the selection of elements, the user can page through
the cube.

See also:

• drill

• pivot

• sort

• subtotal

parent attribute The higher-level attribute in an attribute relationship with

one or more children. “Higher” refers to the attribute’s
position within a hierarchy, with respect to another attribute.

See also:

• child attribute

• relationship

pivot To reconfigure data on a grid report by placing report objects

(attributes, metrics, consolidations) on different axes. Also,
to reconfigure a grid report by interchanging row and column
headers, and hence the associated data. Subset of cross-tab.

See also:

• drill

• page-by

• sort

• subtotal

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project 1) The highest-level intersection of a data warehouse,

metadata repository, and user community, containing
reports, filters, metrics, and functions.

2) An object containing the definition of a project, as defined

in (1). The project object is specified when requesting the
establishment of a session.

prompt MicroStrategy object that asks the user during report

execution to provide an answer that completes the
information. A typical example with a filter is prompting the
user to select a specific attribute on which to qualify.

qualification The actual condition that must be met for data to be included
on a report. Examples include “Region = Northeast” or
“Revenue > $1 million”. Qualifications are used in filters and
custom groups. You can create multiple qualifications for a
single filter or custom group, and then determine how to
combine the qualifications using the logical operators AND,
AND NOT, OR, and OR NOT.

relationship An association specifying the nature of the connection

between one attribute (the parent) and one or more other
attributes (the children). For example, City is a child attribute
of State.

See also:
• parent attribute

• child attribute

report The central focus of any decision support investigation, a

report allows users to query for data, analyze that data, and
then present it in a visually pleasing manner.

See also:

• filter

• template

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report design The process of building reports from basic report

components using the Report Editor in MicroStrategy
Developer or MicroStrategy Web.

row The horizontal axis of a report.

See also:

• axis

• column

schema object A MicroStrategy object created, usually by a project designer,

that relates the information in the logical data model and
physical warehouse schema to the MicroStrategy
environment. These objects are developed in MicroStrategy
Architect, which can be accessed from MicroStrategy
Developer. Schema objects directly reflect the warehouse
structure and include attributes, facts, functions, hierarchies,
operators, partition mappings, tables, and transformations.

series In a graph report, the set of data along the Y-axis. Series
generally correspond to the columns of a grid report. Series
are represented as legend items in a graph.

shortcut object A MicroStrategy object that represents a link to another

MicroStrategy object such as a report, filter, metric, and so
forth. Shortcut objects provide quick access to commonly
used objects.

sort Arranging data according to some characteristic of the data

itself (alphabetical descending, numeric ascending, and so
forth).

See also:

• drill

• page-by

• pivot

• subtotal

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source system Any system or file that captures or holds data of interest.

Structured Query The query language standardized in 1986 by the American

Language (SQL) National Standards Institute (ANSI) and used to request
information from tables in a relational database and to
manipulate the tables’ structure and data.

subtotal A totaling operation performed for a portion of a result set.

See also:

• drill

• page-by

• pivot

• sort

template A MicroStrategy object that serves as a base on which you can

build other objects of the same type. A report template is the
structure that underlies any report. It specifies the set of
information that the report should retrieve from your data
source, and the way that you want the data to be displayed.

transformation metric An otherwise simple metric that takes the properties of the
transformation applied to it. For example, a metric calculates
total sales. Add a transformation for last year and the metric
now calculates last year’s total sales.

threshold Used to create conditional formatting for metric values, to

highlight important data. For example, if revenue is greater
than $200, a threshold can automatically format that cell to
have a blue background with bold type.

view filter A filter that dynamically restricts the data being displayed on
the report without re-executing the report against the
warehouse. This capability provides improved response time
and decreased database load.

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INDEX

A defining a filter based on an

attribute 179
adding Hierarchy prompt 179
filter to a report 362 Long prompt 178
metric to a report 359 Metric prompt 183
prompt to a filter 375 Numeric prompt 178
prompt to a report 367 Object prompt 176
usability features to a report 387 overview 173
alias personal answer 185
attribute 39 saving an answer 185
column 37 selecting an answer from a list 175
consolidation 40 Text prompt 178
custom group 40 typing a value 177
metric 40 applying a total and subtotal 237
report 39 attribute 7
row 37 alias 39
aligning text in a cell 208 displaying an attribute form 399
analyzing data 73 example 115, 215
answer requirements for a prompt 300 hiding an attribute form 399
answering a prompt 173 in a page-by field 87
answering again 177 keeping when drilling 139
Attribute Element prompt 175 metric relationship 222
Attribute prompt 180 prompt. See Attribute prompt.
Big Decimal prompt 178 removing when drilling 139
Date prompt 177 viewing sample 216
defining a filter based on a metric 183

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attribute element list qualification 255 categories in a graph report defined on 61

Attribute Element cell
prompt defined on 326 aligning text 208
answering 175 formatting 35
creating 327 formatting, by a designer 389
example 326 changing
attribute form qualification 261 graph color 61
creating 261 graph style 58
example 261 metric join 103
Attribute prompt column
answering 180 alias 37
creating 320 color banding 47
example 319 hiding 42
attribute qualification defined on 255 locking headers 391
creating 256 locking name/header 50
example 255 merging headers 390
attribute-to-attribute qualification 296 objects on 7
audience for report creation 206 pivoting 90
autostyle defined on 69 swapping data with rows 92
applying 70 Command Manager and metric
creating 70 creation 249
components
metric 219
B
prompt 298
banding 47
compound metric defined on 232
base formula 232
arithmetic operator 233
Big Decimal prompt defined on 343
example 221
adding to a filter 377
conditional
adding to a metric 373, 374
formatting. See threshold.
answering 178
metric defined on 228
creating 344
values in a report 25
border of a report, formatting 51
consolidation
Break By in metric set qualification 270
adding to a report 404
alias 40
C drilling and 120
cache defined on 170 creating
calculating data 97 autostyle 70
calculation, changing order of 104 filter. See also creating a filter. 252

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metric 235 Report Editor 354

metric join 99 saving time 208
object 213 cross-tabular report 8
page-by field 88 custom expression 296
prompt. See also creating a custom group
prompt. 305 adding to a report 404
Report Services document 410 alias 40
report. See also creating a report. 351 drilling and 120
shortcut object 195 formatting 24
threshold 29 customizing
creating a filter 252 drilling behavior 135
adding a prompt 375 function 249
attribute form qualification 261 metric number format 246
attribute qualification 256 Report Details pane 112
date qualification 265
joining qualifications with an
operator 282 D
metric set qualification 271 data
relationship set qualification 273 analyzing 73
shortcut-to-a-filter qualification 281 caching 170
shortcut-to-a-report qualification 279 calculating 97
creating a prompt detail, showing 80
Attribute 320 filtering 110
Attribute Element 327 grouping with page-by 85
Hierarchy 313 outlining 80
Metric 332 pivoting 90, 92
Object 338 refreshing 168
Value 344 source. See data source.
creating a report 351 summary, showing 80
audience 206 data source 168
best practices 205 alternative 415
combining a template and a filter 193 joining fact tables 98
data source 207 refreshing report data 168
example 204, 385 report creation and 207
in MicroStrategy Web 387 Date prompt defined on 342
prerequisites 352 adding to a filter 379
privileges required for 204 answering 177
quick report creation 195, 209 creating 344

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date qualification 265 E

default answer for a prompt, defining 300
editing
default evaluation order 104
filter 294
derived metric defined on 16, 414
metric 248
Developer. See MicroStrategy Developer.
prompt 347
dimensionality. See level.
emailing a report 18
document. See Report Services document.
enabling drilling
drill map 401
Developer 138
drilling defined on 119
Web 139
anywhere 137
evaluation order 104
behavior 135
default 104
changing drilling options for a
report 135 example
drilling 119
changing drilling options while
drilling 130 exporting
consolidation and 120 data 20
custom group and 120
down only 137 F
enabling
fact 220
Developer 138
MicroStrategy Web 401 filter defined on 110, 250
Web 139 adding a prompt
to a report filter 370
example 119
to a stand-alone filter 375
in Grid Graph view 130
adding to a report 362
keeping parent attribute 139
example 139 attribute qualification 255
attribute-to-attribute
methods 120
qualification 296
on a graph 126
based on a date 265
on a grid
changing the operator between
Developer 121
qualifications 292
Web 124
creating 252
options 130
in a report 365
page-by and 144
custom expression 296
restricting 401
diagram of 250
subtotal and 158
editing 294
threshold and 141
example 110, 250
example 142
imported element 296
dynamic aggregation defined on 17, 414
in SQL 250
joint element list 296

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metric-to-metric qualification 296 G

qualification, joining with an
grand total 105
operator 282
graph 57
relationship filter 272
category 61
report limit and 97
color 61
set qualification 270
color for a metric in a graph report 62
shortcut-to-a-filter 280
creating 410
stand-alone vs. filter as part of
report 254 displaying a number in 69
type 253 drilling on 126
view 111, 413 example 58
viewing filter definition 112 object. See graph object.
Filter Definition prompt defined on 311 series 61
adding to a filter 376 style. See graph style.
adding to the report filter 370 threshold 63
example 311 undo and redo formatting 68
Filter Editor 252 view 9
filtering data on a report 110 graph object
formatting moving 68
cell 35 placement 59
metric 244 resizing 68
metric, by a designer 393 graph style 58, 401
report 24 changing 58, 60
row and column headers and cells, by a example 58
designer 389 minimum requirements for 59
formula grid
base 232 drilling on
metric 220 Developer 121
Freeform SQL 415 Web 124
function viewing 5
custom plug-in 249 Grid Graph view 10
example 221 formatting 54
grand total 237
in metric definition 221 H
non-group 234 hierarchy defined on 116
subtotal 237 example 116
Hierarchy prompt 313
answering 179

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creating 313 Developer 422

example 313 MicroStrategy Web 426
HTML document 412 merging column and row headers 390
metric defined on 217
alias 40
I
base formula 232
imported filter element 296
column alias 249
inner join for a metric 99
components 219
instructions for a prompt 304
compound. See compound metric.
condition. See conditional metric.
J definition defined on 219
join, metric. See metric join. 99 derived 16, 414
joint element list 296 dimensionality. See level.
expression defined on 219
formatting. See metric - formatting.
L formula. See metric formula.
level defined on 118 function 221
example 118 graph color for 62
metric 249 in a page-by field 87
metric calculation 222 in SQL 221
output join. See metric join.
metric set qualification 270 level defined on 118, 222
relationship set qualification 273 example 118
prompt 307 operator 227
limit, report. See report limit. prompt. See Metric prompt.
locking column and row headers 391 qualification. See metric set
logging in to qualification. 270
MicroStrategy Developer 3 ranking 102
MicroStrategy Web 2 set qualification. See metric set qualifi-
Long prompt defined on 343 cation.
adding to a filter 377 subtotal 237
adding to a metric 373, 374 tasks. See metric - tasks.
answering 178 threshold 29
creating 344 total 237
transformation 230, defined on 230
type 217
M
VLDB property 249
maximum value in a report, specifying 93
metric - formatting
menus

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by a designer 393 interface 418

by an analyst 244 menus 422
customizing a metric number Object Viewer 418
format 246 Report Editor 423
number format in a graph 69 Shortcut Bar. See also Shortcut
removing the extra Metrics column Bar. 418
from a report 398 starting 2
metric - tasks toolbar icons 422
adding to a report 359 MicroStrategy OLAP Services 15
creating 235 cache and 172
editing 248 derived metric 16
hiding a column 42 designing a report using 413
removing the extra Metrics column dynamic aggregation 17
from a report 398
view filter 16
saving 238
MicroStrategy Tutorial 4
viewing 217
MicroStrategy Web
Metric Editor 217
interface 426
metric formula defined on 219, 220
menus 426
example 220
Report Editor 432
metric join 98
starting 3
creating 99
toolbar icons 428
example 100
minimum number of prompt answers,
inner 99 specifying 301
outer 100 minimum value in a report, specifying 93
type 98 moving a graph object 68
viewing 103
when to use an inner or outer join 101
Metric prompt defined on 331
N
answering 183 null value 36
creating 332 number format
example 331 customizing (metric) 246
metric set qualification 270 in a graph 69
Break By 270 Numeric prompt defined on 343
creating 271 adding to a filter 377
output level 270 adding to a metric 374
metric-to-metric comparison 296 answering 178
MicroStrategy Developer creating 344
folder list 418

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O relationship set qualification 273

object
adding to a report. See adding. See also P
individual object names. page-by defined on 85
creating 210, 213 adding a prompt to 372
diagram of types 211 adding to a report 403
editors and wizards 213 creating 87
prompt. See Object prompt. drilling and 144
saving 213 example 85
Object prompt defined on 336 removing from a report 89
adding to parent attribute, keeping when
filter 376 drilling 139
metric 373 password 2
page-by 372
permissions 3
report filter 370
personal answer for a prompt 302
answering 176
multiple 304
creating 338
none 303
example 336
saving 185
OLAP Services. See MicroStrategy OLAP
Services. single 303
opening a report 5 pivoting defined on 90
operator defined on 282 example 90
AND example 283 position, modifying for a graph object 68
AND NOT example 290 prerequisites for
arithmetic, in a compound metric 235 creating a report 352
changing 292 project 353
in a metric calculation 227 printing a report 18
in a report limit 94 privileges 3
joining filter qualifications 282 report creation 354
OR example 285 report design 204
OR NOT example 287 project defined on 211
order of evaluation. See evaluation order. prerequisites 353
outer join for a metric 100 prompt defined on 173
outline mode 80 answer requirements 300
outline of report data 83 answering 173
output level attribute element. See Attribute Ele-
ment prompt.
filter 273
attribute. See Attribute prompt.
metric set qualification 270
Big Decimal. See Big Decimal prompt.

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choose from all attributes in a hierar- answering 173

chy. See Hierarchy prompt. creating 305
choose from an attribute element list. default answer, defining 300
See Attribute Element prompt. editing 347
components 298 number of answers, defining 301
date. See Date prompt. saving a report with 186
example 296 prompt type 307
Filter Definition. See Filter Definition choosing 308
prompt.
Hierarchy prompt. See Hierarchy
prompt. Q
hierarchy. See Hierarchy prompt qualification defined on 252
instructions 304 attribute-to-attribute 296
Level 307 joining with an operator 282
long. See Long prompt. metric set 270
metric. See Metric prompt. relationship set 272
numeric. See Numeric prompt. shortcut-to-a-filter 280
object. See Object prompt. shortcut-to-a-report 276
personal answer 185, 302 Query Builder 415
properties 299 quick sort 77
qualify on a metric. See Metric prompt.
qualify on an attribute. See Attribute
prompt. R
scheduled report and 299 rank metric 102
security filter and 298 redo graph formatting 68
stand-alone vs. part of report or refreshing data in a report 168
filter 309 relationship filter 272
system 348 relationship set qualification 270, 272
tasks. See prompt - tasks. creating 273
text. See Text prompt. removing a page-by field 89
title 304 report defined on 351
type. See prompt type. alias 39
value. See Value prompt. cache 170
prompt - tasks cell 7
adding to column 7
filter 375 cross-tabbed 8
page-by 372
data source 168
report 367
report filter 370 data. See report data.
design 386

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details. See Report Details pane. customizing 112

formatting ideas 24 Report Editor 354
grand total 105 accessing from Developer 355
graph report 9 Developer 423
grid 8 MicroStrategy Web 432
grid-graph 10 report limit 93
object 210 creating 94
page-by 403 example 93
prompted 186 maximum and minimum values 93
row 7 operator 94
saving. See saving a report. report filter and 97
scheduled. See scheduled report. Report Services
sorting 77 document defined on 410
subtotal 105 adding usability to 400
tasks. See report - tasks. creating 410
type 8 Report Wizard 193
report - tasks reprompting 177
adding a consolidation 404 row
adding a custom group 404 alias 37
creating. See also creating a color banding 47
report. 351 formatting, by a designer 389
emailing 18 locking headers 391
exporting 20 locking name/header 50
filtering 110 merging headers 390
opening 5 objects on 7
printing 18 pivoting 90
saving 382 swapping data with columns 92
searching for a value 78
report analysis defined on xvi, 73 S
Report Builder 196
sample data 4
report data
saving
searching for 78
metric 238
sorting 74
object 213
Report Data Options
report. See saving a report.
aliasing options 41
saving a report 382
report limit 95
drilling and 134
report design defined on xvi, 204
page-by and 89
Report Details pane
prompt and 186

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Basic Reporting Guide Index

scheduled report and prompt 299 zooming in on 11

searching for starting
data in a report 77 MicroStrategy Developer 3
SQL string 78 MicroStrategy Web 2
security filter and prompt 298 subtotal defined on 105
series in a graph report defined on 61 applying to a metric 237
graph color for a metric 62 displaying on a report 105
set qualification defined on 270 drilling and 158
metric 270 example 239
relationship 270, 272 metric 239
Shortcut Bar removing 241
shortcut group user-defined 249
creating 419 support. See technical support.
removing 421 system prompt 348
renaming 421
shortcut icon 419
adding to a group 420 T
removing 420 tables, joining for a metric 98
renaming 421 technical support xxvi
shortcut object, creating 195 template defined on 348
shortcut qualification defined on 276 diagram 350
shortcut-to-a-filter selecting 349
qualification defined on 280
Text prompt defined on 343
creating 281
adding to a filter 380
example 281
answering 178
shortcut-to-a-report
qualification defined on 276 creating 344
creating 279 threshold defined on 27
creating 29
example 276
drilling and 141
simple metric, creating 218
size, modifying for a graph object 68 example 25, 28
on a graph 63
smart total 242
title and instructions for a prompt 304
sorting report data 74
toolbar icons
SQL
Developer 422
filter in WHERE clause 250
MicroStrategy Web 428
metric in SELECT clause 221
total 105
searching for a string 78
applying to a metric 237
viewing for a report 10
example 239
writing your own 415

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Index Basic Reporting Guide

metric 239
removing 241
smart total 242
transformation metric 230
Tutorial. See MicroStrategy Tutorial.

U
undo graph formatting 68
usability features, adding to a report 387
user-defined subtotal 249

V
value
aligning in a cell 208
locating in a report 77
Value prompt 341, defined on 341
adding to a metric 374
creating 344
example 341
view filter defined on 16, 413
regular filter vs. 111
viewing
a graph 9
filter definition 112
grid report 5
metric 217
SQL 10
VLDB property 249

W
Web. See MicroStrategy Web.

456 © 2015 MicroStrategy, Inc.