All posts by Senthilraj

About Senthilraj

DW BI Architect and BI Project Management (Specialized in MicroStrategy). Hobbies/Passion about photography, tennis, music, travel-trekking. Website: www.b-diamonds.com www.facebook.com/SENRAJ81 www.linkedin.com/in/senraj

MicroStrategy System Manager – Awesome Tool !!

Recently explored the ‘System Manager’ component in MicroStrategy 9.3.1 version. it’s a very helpful tool for those working as Admin, project designer, project lead/manager (who handles entire BI-MicroStrategy components). This reduces the pain and helps to automate the entire schedule process example, if the narrowcast service dependent on cube and cube is on depend on data load, then it can be automated using ‘System Manager’ work flow.

The document (PDF) provided by MicroStrategy is very clear to understand and very easy to create any work flow. Only important point is, whoever design the work flow should capture every success and failure possibilities and handle those success/failures in the work flow.

What is work flow?

System Manager, it’s like a ETL Job, where you can create a workflow visually, allowing you to see the step-by-step process that leads the workflow from one process to the next. This visual approach to creating a workflow can also help you to notice opportunities to troubleshoot and error check processes as part of a workflow.

Here are the few important points to be known before developing any work flow. There is no code, program required to develop a work flow. It’s all about drag & drop and set the properties. For each object you drag & drop, properties can be set.

Work flow components:

  1. Workflow – One Complete job is called Work flow (like in ETL tools, there can be one or more Workflow
  2. Parameters – For every step you can assign Name and values, which will make use of the values for the assigned job in the work flow
  3. Exit Codes – While defining the process (work flow), you can assign the exit codes, which says whether it’s success or failure and also description for the same. On the Properties pane, scroll down to the bottom and click Show Descriptions. Later we can see it in the example
  4. Connectors –

                           Success – If the current process is completed with an exit code that is defined as a successful status, the process that the success connector points to is the next process that is attempted.

If you use a success connector from a process, it is recommended that you also use a failure connector.

                           Failure – If the current process is completed with an exit code that is defined as a failure status, the process that the failure connector points to is the next process that is attempted.

If you use a failure connector from a process, it is recommended that you also use a success connector.

                          Continue – Regardless of the status of the exit code for the current process, the process that the continue connector points to is the next process that is attempted.

If you use the continue connector from a process, you cannot use any other connectors for that process.

  1. Decision – A decision process is created in the workflow, as shown in the image below. Decisions provide the ability to determine the next process in a workflow based on specific exit codes for the previous process, rather than just the simple success or failure of a process
  2. Toggle Entry Process – This enables or disables a process as an entry process for the workflow. A process that is defined as an entry process is displayed with a green flag symbol, as shown in the image below.

 

  1. While any process, other than an exit process, can be enabled as an entry process for a workflow, you should limit the steps that are enabled as entry processes for various reasons:
  2. Split Execution – A split execution process lets you start multiple threads in a workflow to perform parallel processing of the tasks in a workflow. This can speed up execution of a workflow for systems that can handle the parallel processing.
  3. Merge Execution – A merge execution process is created in the workflow
  4. Comment icon – comment is created in the workflow. Comments can be used to provide additional explanation to the design of a workflow
  5. Exit Workflow – An exit process allows you to end a workflow as well as explain how the workflow ended.
  6. Validate Workflow – If the workflow is listed as valid, click OK to close the dialog box. If the workflow is not valid, click Details to review the reasons why the workflow is not valid. Click OK and make any required changes to the workflow. Once all changes are made, validate the workflow again.
  7. Log – Log file can be generated for the work flow
  8. Properties and parameters – Storing user credentials within System Manager introduces a security risk. Configuration information is not known until or during the actual configuration.
  9. Parameters can be stored as a file and reuse it in any work flow

There are more features available in MicroStrategy System Manger, those can be find in MicroStrategy’s supporting PDF and help menu in System Manager.

 

Transaction Services – Very simple demo to start learning……..

1. Create a freeform SQL with Select CAT_ID, SUB_CAT_ID, MONTH_ID, SALES, SALES * [?ValuePrompt]

2. Save the FreeForm SQL and Run the report

3. Create 2nd freeform SQL (This is going to be transaction report);

4. There should be Input objects and Output objects for each transaction (each transaction will have separate transaction report)

5. Enter Input / Output fields

5a. Input objects should match with values (…) in the insert statement

6. There should be one Output Object.

7. Save this insert Transaction

8. Open WEB, Create a document

9. Add the Query report (Freeform SQL)

10. Drag the required objects to the Panel (there should be at least one panel) as shown below

11. Right Click Text field, select ‘Configure Transaction’

12. Map the Fields with Values from Insert Statement

13. There are many styles of making editable field (slider, Text field, …..many-many)

14. Insert ‘Action Selector Button’ for Submission

15. Right click the button after adding

16. Go to properties, and go to Selector option

17. As usual,  select the panel as target

18. Run it in Express Mode, Enter/Modify value and click Submit to update database

19. This is very simple, Demo

20. For Update, Delete – need to create a separate transaction report for the document

21. This demo will help to start with…..rest is your imagination.

22. Soon, will upload a demo for Mobile App with Transaction services feature.

Object Prompt in Cube and RS Document (RS already discussed earlier)

Earlier (actually long back), posted a topic about placing Object prompt in the RS document/ RS Grouping;

Source: http://www.microstrategy101.com/?p=130

Here is the similar trick to use object prompt in the dataset created from Cube;

  1. Create an object prompt with metrics (A, B, C, D)
  2. Create a cube with attributes and with above A, B, C, D metrics and create a data set using this cube
  3. Drag and drop object prompt from MicroStrategy Desktop window to the cube
  4. And it works…..I tested this in 9.3 and 9.2.1 version.

Starting from 9.3.0 String Function can be used in Derived Metrics

Starting from 9.3.0 String Function can be used in Metrics;

1. Create a Max (Attribute-1) as ‘Derived_metric-1’

2. Create a Max (Attribute-2) as ‘Derived_metric-2’

3. Create a third metric as ‘Concat(Derived_metric-1, Derived_metric-2)

4. Place it in the report……it works (verified in desktop)

 

Additional Tip: similarly, you can create count (attribute) on the fly (as derived metric) – Cool…..