ADW User’s Guide · 2016. 11. 16. · MicroStrategy Basics . ADW User’s Guide . Module 0: MicroStrategy Basics . Version 1.0 . October 22, 2014

MicroStrategy Basics

ADW User’s Guide

Module 0: MicroStrategy Basics Version 1.0

October 22, 2014


Last modified: 10/22/14 2/35 © Boston University

Foreword to the MicroStrategy Basics Module

This document provides a brief introduction to the MicroStrategy reporting/analytical tool. This is not a definitive description of MicroStrategy functionality. It is intended to provide Academic Data Warehouse (ADW) users with the basic information they need to get started running and modifying ADW reports. For more detailed information about the tool, refer to the section Where to Get Help, at the end of this document.



Contents Foreword to the MicroStrategy Basics Module ...................................................................................................................... 2

ADW Login and Report Execution ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Navigate to the ADW Home Page ................................................................................................................................... 4

Navigate to the ADW Shared Reports Folder ................................................................................................................. 4

Remote Connection to ADW ........................................................................................................................................... 4

Execute a Shared Report ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Logout from MicroStrategy ............................................................................................................................................. 5

ADW Reports and the MicroStrategy Reporting Tool ............................................................................................................. 6

Report Terminology ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Navigation Icons .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

Showing/Hiding the Report Objects Frame .................................................................................................................... 8

Adding/Removing Report Objects to/from a Report ...................................................................................................... 9

Apply a Filter to a Report Column ................................................................................................................................. 10

Grouping Data – Changing Column Order .................................................................................................................... 12

Grouping Data – Page-by .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Sorting ........................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Drilling ........................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Adding Subtotals ........................................................................................................................................................... 20

Changing Attribute Display Characteristics ................................................................................................................... 21

Exporting Report Data to Excel ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Saving to My Reports .................................................................................................................................................... 23

Executing a Saved Report .............................................................................................................................................. 24

Undoing an Action ......................................................................................................................................................... 24

Graphing ........................................................................................................................................................................ 24

Dashboards ................................................................................................................................................................... 29

Where to Get Help ................................................................................................................................................................ 33

Help with Microstrategy ............................................................................................................................................... 33

If you have ADW questions ........................................................................................................................................... 33

Index ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 34



ADW Login and Report Execution

Navigate to the ADW Home Page1 The Home page is located here: http://bi.bu.edu

Navigate to the ADW Shared Reports Folder2

Click on the Academic Data Warehouse folder.

Enter your BU Login ID and Kerberos password.

Once you have successfully logged in, the contents of the Academic Data Warehouse project are visible. Click to select a folder to view the folder contents.

This example assumes we want to access undergraduate reports with the Admissions area.

Click to open the Admissions folder.

Then click to open the Undergraduate folder.

Remote Connection to ADW To connect to the ADW from an offsite location, no VPN connection is necessary. You can connect directly to the server at http://bi.bu.edu.

1 The Home Page displays the names and descriptions of all the available projects. 2 Shared Report folders contain public reports and other objects that are shared with a specified group of users.

http://bi.bu.edu/

http://bi.bu.edu/



Execute a Shared Report3

Once you have navigated to the appropriate folder area, click to run one of the available Shared Reports (notice the icon and descriptive text are highlighted when hovering your mouse over the report).

Data is returned based on the selection criteria specified by the report designer and, if the report is prompted, your response(s) to the report’s prompt(s). Here is an example of output based on the report selected above:

Logout from MicroStrategy

Click the Projects button. Slide your cursor down and click Logout.

3 To preserve information confidentiality, data in screen shots throughout this document have been obscured where necessary.



ADW Reports and the MicroStrategy Reporting Tool

The following sections refer to the sample data in this graphic:

Report Terminology Report: a request for specific data displayed in a defined layout and format. Data in a report may all be predefined or a user may be able to select data at runtime. Report results can be displayed in a grid or graph format.

Document: Reports are the building blocks of documents. A document may consist of one or more reports. A document may include everything in a report or only pieces of a report.

Metrics: calculations that are placed directly in reports and documents. They can be built using facts or by using other metrics. In the sample above, Paid Deposits, Paid Withdrawals, and Average High School GPA are examples of metrics. Attributes: data that describes the facts displayed in a report or document. Attributes can be used to filter data in a report. Attributes also define the level at which calculations (data) can be viewed. Individual items displayed under an attribute header are referred to as attribute elements. In the sample above, College of Admission is an attribute. Hierarchy: a hierarchy is made up of a group of attributes that are logically related to each other.

Filters: define the condition(s) that data must meet in order to be included in the report result set (a filter applied at run time is referred to as a report filter). All reports contain at least one filter. A single filter can contain any number of conditions. Only data that meets all of the filter conditions will be displayed in a report. In a given report, a filter may be defined or a user may be prompted to select filtering conditions. Filters applied by users after a report has been run are referred to as view filters.

Prompts: appear prior to running a report or dashboard. These define certain conditions for the report. The most typical prompts in BU ADW reports are ones that define the snapshot dates (see below) allowing the user to select from which dates they would like to see the data.



Navigation Icons

1. Projects button (described below) 2. Navigation buttons: use back/forward buttons to go

back and forth among folders you have visited (do not use the browser’s forward and back buttons!)

3. Return: navigate to folder immediately above current folder

4. Current folder name 5. Action Bar: includes functions like create new report,

create new document, etc. Function information can be displayed by hovering the cursor over an icon.

Click the Projects button to display a number of functions, including: Home: returns you to the Home page. Shared Reports: folder contains reports developed by OIR and ENSA for use by authorized users. My Reports: folder contains any shared reports you have modified and saved. Preferences: provides ability to set MicroStrategy session preferences, e.g., set home page. Logout: log out of the current project.



Showing/Hiding the Report Objects Frame

The Report Objects frame presents a list of objects (Attributes and Metrics) that are available to a report. The Report Objects icon, available in the Tools toolbar, allows you to show or hide the frame.

Example: Report Objects displayed (the Report Objects button is depressed)

Example: Report Objects hidden (the Report Objects button is not depressed)



Adding/Removing Report Objects to/from a Report

Attributes and Metrics an be added to, or removed from, a report simply by clicking and dragging the object. In the example below, note that the Report Objects frame is currently being displayed.

Adding an Attribute to a Report

Click on an Attribute in the Report Objects list (Home State, in this example) and drag it into the report analysis area. A vertical yellow line indicates where the object will be placed as a column. A horizontal line would indicate placement as a report row.

Removing an Attribute from a Report

Click on an Attribute displayed in the report and drag it into the Report Objects area. When an “X” appears (attached the mouse) release the mouse button. The object will be removed from the report.



Apply a Filter to a Report Column4

Suppose you want to filter the following report to show only activity for the New England states.

Note that the highlighted area indicates no filter is currently active.

Right-click on Home State, the field to be filtered. Then click on Filter On

4 In MicroStrategy terminology, a filter applied after a report has run is referred to as a “view filter.” This is in contrast to a “report filter,” which determines data brought into the report when the report is run.



Select the states to be included in the filter. Items can added to the selection list by: 1. Clicking each individually, and then pressing

the single arrow key to move the selected item to the selection list.

2. Selecting multiple items by holding down the CTRL key and clicking, and then pressing the single arrow key to move the selected item(s) to the selection list.

When all items have been added to the list, click the Check Mark to complete filter specification.

Be sure to click the Apply button to activate the filter.

The result: only the selected states are displayed. Note that the highlighted area lists the contents of the filter and indicates what field is being filtered. To clear the filter, click the X at the left of Home State. Click the Apply button to complete the filter removal.



Grouping Data – Changing Column Order

The order of report columns, from left to right, determines the way a report is grouped. Look at the example below:

The report is grouped and sorted first by College of Admission (the left-most column) and, within College, by Home State.

If other attributes were added to the right of Home State, those objects would be grouped within Home State, and so forth.

Swapping the column position of Home State and College of Admission5 leads to a different grouping result.

5 They were swapped simply by clicking on one of the columns, e.g., Home State, and dragging it to the left of College of Admission.



Grouping Data – Page-by Page-by provides the ability to group a large set of data on a report into logical subsets, or pages. Once grouped in this manner, you can then page your way through the report, viewing one subset at a time.

You can apply Page-by to several MicroStrategy objects, most commonly attributes, metrics and hierarchies.

As an example, consider this view of the A1 Applications & Accepts with Selectivity Shared report. Two Page-by selections, Applicant Domestic/International and College Applied, are in use:

The data are displayed by region, and show a total for all schools/colleges.

Click the drop-down arrow for College Applied to select and view detailed data for a single school.

To better understand how Page-by has affected the view of the data in the report, try this experiment:

1. Position your cursor on College Applied. Click and hold the left mouse button to drag the Page-by into the report. A horizontal or vertical or yellow line appears to show where the attribute will be placed and whether it will be displayed as a row (horizontal line) or column (vertical line).

2. Release the mouse button when the attribute is correctly located.



3. The result: school/college is displayed for each region.

Note that the report display is now two pages long instead of the previously compact single-page view provided when Page-by was used.



Sorting Quick Sort

It is possible to perform a quick sort on an attribute or a metric. You can sort only on a single row or column when using Quick Sort. If you sort on one column / row and then sort on a different column / row, you will lose the result of the first sort. Suppose you want to view the Paid Deposits metric in descending order. Do the following:

1. Right-click on the column to be sorted

2. Move the cursor down to Sort 3. Slide the cursor to the right and

select Ascending or Descending

Here is the result following the application of a descending sort. Note that other columns of the report change in accordance with the applied sort.



Advanced (Multiple-Key) Sort A multiple-key sort is useful when you want to sort on more than one column / row at a time.

Suppose you want to sort the report sample on left first by Region and, within Region, you want to display the number of admits in descending order.

In the Data menu, click the Sort icon. The Sort window is displayed.



1. This sort will be applied across the rows of the report, so be sure the Row tab is selected.

2. Click the item 1 drop-down arrow and select the first-order sort object. In this case, we will sort by Region. Click the Ascending radio button.

3. Repeat this operation for item 2, # Admits. Click the Descending radio button.

4. Click the OK button to apply the sort and close the Sort window. Alternatively, click the Apply button to apply the sort and keep the Sort window visible. The latter button is useful when experimenting with different sort criteria.

The result: Applicant Home State Region is sorted in ascending order and, within Region, # Admits to BU is displayed in descending order.



Drilling Drilling enables you to view data at levels of detail different than the level originally displayed in the result set. You can use the Drill function to quickly and easily analyze various levels of detail in a report. Drilling can be performed in the following ways:

• Drilling down: enables you to access data at a lower attribute level in the same hierarchy. For example, you might drill down from a view of data by month to see data by day.

• Drilling up: enables you to see data at a higher attribute level in the same hierarchy. For example, you could drill up from a view of report data by day to see a view by month.

• Drilling to other directions: enables you to view data at any level in another hierarchy. For example, you might drill from a time hierarchy to a geography hierarchy.6

There are multiple ways to drill. Here are two commonly-used methods:

1. Click directly on an attribute element 2. Right-click on an attribute element

Examples: Given the report view on the left, suppose you want to know – for each college - more about admissions by undergraduate major.

Clicking directly on an attribute element If an attribute name is represented as a link (i.e., the object is underlined), you can click directly on it to drill. In the previous image, notice that each of the schools/colleges appears as a link.

If you hover over one of these elements, a message appears indicating you can drill to Undergraduate Application Major Admitted.

6 The ability to Drill-across is not available to all ADW users.



Clicking on CAS would result in a display like this.

Use Right-click to drill down on an attribute element You can right-click on a column header to drill to any elements that are part of the hierarchy for a particular attribute.

Example: right-click on the Applicant Home State Region column header.

Hover over Drill, then slide the cursor right and select Applicant Home Address State.

The result: Applicant Home Address State detail is now included in the report.



Adding Subtotals

From the Data menu, click the Subtotal icon

The result: summary totals are generated. Note that it is also possible to generate averages, counts, median, maximum, minimum, etc. Use the Edit Subtotal

icon to view these options.



Changing Attribute Display Characteristics

Given the report view on the left, suppose you want to know what the various College of Admission abbreviations represent (an unlikely situation, but it demonstrates the feature).

Right-click on the College of Admission column header.

Scroll down and select Attribute Forms.

The checkmark on the ID attribute indicates this portion of College of Admission is currently being displayed. There is no checkmark next to Desc (description) because this portion of the attribute is not visible.

Click on Desc to make it visible.

Desc is now visible.

Right-click on College of Admissions again and select Attribute Forms to see that both ID and Desc have checkmarks.



Exporting Report Data to Excel

From the Home menu, point to Export, then click to select the export type. This example exports formatted data to Excel.

Use the Export Options window to specify what information to included in the export and how the data will be formatted. Click the Export button to complete the export.



Saving to My Reports Once you have modified a Shared report, you may want to save it for future use.

Click the Save icon (available in any of the menus on the tool bar).

Enter required information:

1. Specify where report is to be saved (My Reports is currently the only option)

2. Provide a report name (required) 3. Provide a description (optional) 4. Select Prompt options

For example, you can elect to use your prompt responses permanently and not be prompted when using the report in the future (save prompt responses as static), select how you will be prompted, etc.

5. Click the OK button to save your report



Executing a Saved Report

1. Navigate to My Reports (use the Projects button) 2. Within the My Reports folder, click to select and execute

a report

Undoing an Action

Microstrategy records each action performed when operating on a report. Click on the Undo icon to revert to a prior state (this is equivalent to Undo in Microsoft Word or Excel, e.g.). For each time Undo is clicked, an action is “undone.”

Graphing Graph creation using MicroStrategy is straightforward and quite simple, as the examples below will show. A key concept when creating a graph is this: the arrangement of attributes and metrics in a report grid has a direct impact on how data is displayed on a corresponding graph. The arrangement can also affect the analytical focus of the graph.

Grid/Graph icons

Before we examine the examples, it is important to be familiar with the Grid, Graph, and Grid and Graph icons, which are available via any of the menu items.

Graph icon When working in Grid mode (i.e., your data is displayed in a table format), click the Graph icon to view your data represented as a graph.

Grid icon Similarly, toggle from Graph to Grid mode to view the data underlying your graph by clicking on the Grid icon.



Grid and Graph icon Both the grid and the graph are displayed in this view mode.

Hint: use the Grid and Graph icons to toggle back and forth between grid and graph when iteratively developing a graph. The Grid and Graph mode is handy for simultaneously viewing a graph and the data that underlies it – and is useful to see immediate graph results when modifying a grid.

MicroStrategy Graphing Examples

The following examples illustrate (1) the relationship between data arrangements and associated graphs, and (2) the impact of selecting different graph types when visualizing data. 1

Sample Data Source #1 This grid contains two attributes in Rows (Home State and College Applied) and three metrics in Columns (# Applicants, # Admits and # Enrolled)

2

Clicking the Graph icon generates this graph, which is based on the data as it is arranged in the grid Suppose we want to modify the result to reduce the X-axis contents from two attributes to one



3

We return to Grid mode and experiment by moving College Applied from the Rows to the Columns… …which yields this result

4

Clicking again on the Graph icon displays this graph, in which the X-axis is grouped by College Applied, the attribute moved in the Grid view



5

Here is a different graph based on the same grid. In this example, graph Type = Bar and graph Style = Stacked were specified (described in #6 below)

6

The Graph menu allows selection of graph Type and graph Style Here are the Styles available for graph Type = Bar. Hover the mouse over each Style for a description

7

Returning to Grid mode, the Home Address State and College Applied are swapped to Column and Row, respectively



8

Here is the graph that results

9

This final example is based on the same data, but a different graph Type (Vertical Line) and Style (Absolute) have been specified



Dashboards A dashboard is a collection of related sets of data displayed in an intuitive, easy-to-read format – typically on a single screen. Many dashboards are designed to be interactive and allow a user to manipulate data in much the same way that can be done manually within a MicroStrategy report using features like filtering, sorting, and page-by. Data contained in a dashboard can be drawn from one or more reports.

Dashboard data can be displayed in a variety of formats including, among others, grids, pies, gauges, and cylinders. The data contained in a Dashboard can be manipulated by a similarly diverse collection of methods including radio buttons, checkboxes, sliders, and drop-down lists.

In summary, Dashboards come in a variety of forms and provide diverse means of manipulating the data they contain. Here’s one example of a Dashboard developed to display undergraduate admissions data:

1. Navigation/editing toolbar 2, 3. Population selectors enable specification of a student population to be examined 4, 5. Selectors available to filter the selected population 6. Data result based on the population selected and filters applied

Understanding the elements of this sample Dashboard

To appreciate some of the power that this analytical tool provides, let’s examine the sample Dashboard. Navigation/editing toolbar

Tip: use your mouse to hover over any of the functions on the toolbar to see a text description. Function Action/Description

Home Return to the home tab

Back Return to a previous location in the navigation path. For example:



Forward

Browse parent folder

Move up one level

Save as Save current display. For example, save a copy to My Reports.

Express mode Express Mode is a quick-loading display mode for documents and dashboards in MicroStrategy Web. It allows a document analyst to view document results, format the look and feel of Grid/Graphs within the document, and manipulate the data in the Grid/Graphs in several ways. Express Mode provides better performance than all other modes in most situations.

Interactive mode Interactive Mode is a MicroStrategy Web display mode for documents and

dashboards. It allows a document analyst to view report results within the document, format the look and feel of grid reports within the document, and manipulate the data in the reports in several ways.

Flash mode Flash Mode lets you access interactive features on a document that are supported

by Flash, such as widgets. In Flash mode, you can also perform some data manipulations, such as sorting and pivoting objects on the document.

Create personal view

A personal view allows you to save your own custom view of a report, document, or analysis. The personal view includes every change that you made to the report, document, or analysis since you opened it.

Print

Schedule delivery to history list

A history list is a folder where you can store reports, documents, and Visual Insight analyses. You can send an analysis to the History List on a specific schedule.

Scale Enlarge or shrink the displayed report/dashboard.

Re-run document

Full screen / Restore normal screen mode

Use this button to toggle between normal and full screen mode



Population selectors

Clicking the tab By College, By Ethnicity, By DG, etc. establishes the general population to be examined.

For example, clicking on By College results in this data display:

Clicking on the By Ethnicity tab selects this data display:

Clicking on the buttons Applicants, Admits, Paid Deposits, etc. specifies which metrics are to be provided for a given population.

For example, clicking on Applicants button in this data display:

Clicking on the Admits button selects this data display:



Data Filters Two filters types are used in the example Dashboard. Checkbox filters (identified as region 4 in the figure above) The two checkbox filters, College Applied and College Admitted, enable selection of attributes by checking or unchecking boxes. In this example, the All checkbox has been selected.

To filter the list, deselect all elements by clicking on All and click to select one or more list items. In this case, only CAS was selected.

List filters (identified as region 5 in the figure above) The four list filters behave in the same way. Each is set initially to show all Races/Ethnicities, all Home State Regions, all DG classifications, and all Home States.

To modify the filter from All to a set of one or more values, click on one region, hold down the CTRL key, and click on the second region. The CTRL key is useful for selecting non-contiguous items. To select multiple consecutive list items, click on the first/last item in the list, hold down the Shift key, and click on the last/first list item. Use the slider to move up or down within the list if not all items are visible



Where to Get Help

Help with Microstrategy The MicroStrategy eLearning modules (http://ist-mstrt:8080/elearn/) are a great resource for understanding the MicroStrategy reporting tool. The materials are presented in a tutorial format.

MicroStrategy Reporting Guides – Web Resources

These materials are presented in a standard reference document format, rather than a tutorial format:

Basic Reporting: http://www2.microstrategy.com/producthelp/9.3/manuals/en/BasicReporting.pdf

Advanced Reporting: http://www2.microstrategy.com/producthelp/9.4/manuals/en/AdvancedReporting.pdf

If you have ADW questions Please send your questions regarding ADW reports and data to: [email protected]

http://ist-mstrt:8080/elearn/

http://ist-mstrt:8080/elearn/

http://www2.microstrategy.com/producthelp/9.3/manuals/en/BasicReporting.pdf

http://www2.microstrategy.com/producthelp/9.4/manuals/en/AdvancedReporting.pdf

mailto:[email protected]



Index

Attribute adding to a report, 9 changing display characteristics of, 21 defined, 6 removing from a report, 9

Dashboard defined, 29 running an Admissions example, 31 understanding elements of, 29

Document defined, 6

Drill to additional data, 18 Exporting data

to Excel, 22 Filter

applying a filter, 10 dashboard examples, 32 defined, 6 removing a filter, 11

Graphing, 24–28 Grid/Graph icons, 24 Grouping Data

via column order, 12 via Page-by, 13

Help resources, 33

Hierarchy defined, 6

Log on at BU, 4 from remote location, 4

Log out, how to, 5 Metrics

defined, 6 My Reports

executing a report from, 24 saving a modified report to, 23

Page-by, 13 Prompts

defined, 6 Report

defined, 6 how to run, 5

Report Object Frame showing/hiding, 8 using to add/remove an attribute or metric, 9

Sort



multiple-key sort, 15 quick sort, 15

Subtotals, 20 Undo function

undoing an action, 24

Documents

ADW User’s Guide · 2016. 11. 16. · MicroStrategy Basics . ADW User’s Guide . Module 0: MicroStrategy Basics . Version 1.0 . October 22, 2014