Search by ID

You probably noticed that it is not possible to make a search by using an object ID in MicroStrategy.

In most cases this should be no biggie. Still, there are some particular situations when this can be really frustrating.

Let’s just say that you are working on a multilingual project and you really need to know what the heck is the German for “Commissioned Regional Sales wo. Externals”. Let’s also assume that Babelfish may sometimes have funny ways of translating such a corporate nuisance. I’ll even go further and presume that there is not a single trace of a dictionary-like repository in your organization.

The good thing is that an object has the same ID, regardless of its project source. After all, this comes naturally with the use of Object Manager.

Enter “Search by ID“. Now you can simply log on to the project source of your choice, type the ID of the object whose name in that particular project you want to know, et voila… There you have it!

MicroStrategy 9.0 release

MicroStrategy 9.0 codenamed Orion will go GA by Q1 2009, which is still like 3-4 months behind schedule. It is too good as far as some stupid bug fixes that I wanted for long time and some dashboard stuff.

My suggestion – If you are non-English user wait till 9.0 SP1 to be released, or at least HF1. You will not regret your decision.

No projects were returned by this project source

If no projects are returned by MicroStrategy these could be reasons.

  1. Run License Manager and check that you have MicroStrategy Desktop and MicroStrategy Architect among Installed Products.
  2. You enabled anonymous authentication. The Guest user is a member of the Public group. By default, this user group does not have access to any projects in the project source. Revert back to Standard authentication, Administrator -> User Manager -> Public/Gest -> project Access. Set the access and privileges desired for the guest login.
  3. You are trying to connect to a Microsoft Access database with database authentication. Microsoft Access does not support database authentication.
  4. Similar to #2, LDAP user ID and password blank would lead to no project(s) when using LDAP authentication.

Sometimes a faulty installation is needed to be repaired.

But mostly, I have found the issue to be user not given right privileges, not connecting to right Project source or metadata corruption.

A Funny farewell letter

Today was my last day at my employer, First Indian Corporation. I was searching some good “be in touch mails” to be sent to colleague. I couldn’t anything good so sent a simple straight forward email. But I also landed up some funny farewell emails too. Here is the best one.

(Great Farewell Email from ex – JP Morgan employee)

—-
Dear Co-Workers and Managers,

As many of you probably know, today is my last day. But before I leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a great and distinct pleasure it has been to type “Today is my last day.”

For nearly as long as I’ve worked here, I’ve hoped that I might one day leave this company. And now that this dream has become a reality, please know that I could not have reached this goal without your unending lack of support. Words cannot express my gratitude for the words of gratitude you did not express.

I would especially like to thank all of my managers both past and present but with the exception of the wonderful Saroj H*********: in an age where miscommunication is all too common, you consistently impressed and inspired me with the sheer magnitude of your misinformation, ignorance and intolerance for true talent. It takes a strong man to admit his mistake – it takes a stronger man to attribute his mistake to me.

Over the past seven years, you have taught me more than I could ever ask for and, in most cases, ever did ask for. I have been fortunate enough to work with some absolutely interchangeable supervisors on a wide variety of seemingly identical projects – an invaluable lesson in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium.

Your demands were high and your patience short, but I take great solace knowing that my work was, as stated on my annual review, “meets expectation.” That is the type of praise that sends a man home happy after a 10 hour day, smiling his way through half a bottle of meets expectation scotch with a meets expectation cigar. Thanks Trish!

And to most of my peers: even though we barely acknowledged each other within these office walls, I hope that in the future, should we pass on the street, you will regard me the same way as I regard you: sans eye contact.

But to those few souls with whom I’ve actually interacted, here are my personalized notes of farewell:

To Philip C****, I will not miss hearing you cry over absolutely nothing while laying blame on me and my coworkers. Your racial comments about Joe C***** were truly offensive and I hope that one day you might gain the strength to apologize to him.

To Brenda A**** whom is long gone, I hope you find a manager that treats you as poorly as you have treated us. I worked harder for you then any manager in my career and I regret every ounce of it. Watching you take credit for my work was truly demoralizing.

To Sylvia K*****, you should learn how to keep your mouth shut sweet heart. Bad mouthing the innocent is a negative thing, especially when your talking about someone who knows your disgusting secrets. ; )

To Bob M***** (Mr. Cronyism Jr), well, I wish you had more of a back bone. You threw me to the wolves with that witch Brenda and I learned all too much from it. I still can’t believe that after following your instructions, I ended up getting written up, wow. Thanks for the experience buddy, lesson learned.

Don M***** (Mr. Cronyism Sr), I’m happy that you were let go in the same manner that you have handed down to my dedicated coworkers. Hearing you on the phone last year brag about how great bonuses were going to be for you fellas in upper management because all of the lay offs made me nearly vomit. I never expected to see management benefit financially from the suffering of scores of people but then again, with this company’s rooted history in the slave trade it only makes sense.

To all of the executives of this company, Jamie Dimon and such. Despite working through countless managers that practiced unethical behavior, racism, sexism, jealousy and cronyism, I have benefited tremendously by working here and I truly thank you for that. There was once a time where hard work was rewarded and acknowledged, it’s a pity that all of our positive output now falls on deaf ears and passes blind eyes. My advice for you is to place yourself closer to the pulse of this company and enjoy the effort and dedication of us “faceless little people” more. There are many great people that are being over worked and mistreated but yet are still loyal not to those who abuse them but to the greater mission of providing excellent customer support. Find them and embrace them as they will help battle the cancerous plague that is ravishing the moral of this company.

So, in parting, if I could pass on any word of advice to the lower salary recipient (”because it’s good for the company”) in India or Tampa who will soon be filling my position, it would be to cherish this experience because a job opportunity like this comes along only once in a lifetime.

Meaning: if I had to work here again in this lifetime, I would sooner kill myself.

To those who I have held a great relationship with, I will miss being your co-worker and will cherish our history together. Please don’t bother responding as at this very moment I am most likely in my car doing 85 with the windows down listening to Biggie.
—-

Couldn’t control my laughter. One of very interesting reading I have come across in recent time.