What this book covers

Chapter 1, The Value Proposition of MicroStrategy, serves as a guide for the self-service concept, for the prerequisites to install and enable the platform, and for preparing a data set used in the book as a reference. At the end of the chapter, the user will understand the self-service concept and confirm that he can apply the DIY approach.

Chapter 2, Mapping Typical Business Needs, explains to the user the procedure and mechanism, with a very practical approach, of how to map business needs to MicroStrategy components. At the end of this chapter, users will have a clear understanding of how to map their real business to MicroStrategy components.

Chapter 3, Reporting – from Excel to Intelligent Data, explains the procedures and gives hints to design, build, and deploy BI reports using the MicroStrategy platform. The users will be able to generate their first report and analyze data based on a real business need.

Chapter 4, Scorecards and Dashboards – Information Visualization, explains the procedures and mechanisms to design, build, and deploy scorecards and dashboards, focalized in the self-service approach. At the end of this chapter, the user will be able to identify the objects and rules of MicroStrategy for enabling dashboards and scorecards. This chapter will also serve as a practical guide for users to develop their own dashboards.

Chapter 5, Sharing Your BI Reports and Dashboards, covers the procedures to share reports and the subscription engine. At the end of this chapter, the user will be able to set up MicroStrategy components in order to share the reports to defined audiences in an automatic schema.

Chapter 6, MicroStrategy and the Cloud, explains the Cloud offering of MicroStrategy and its usage. At the end of this chapter, the user will be able to identify the Cloud offering of MicroStrategy and see that it is ready to use with basic models.

Chapter 7, BI Reports at Your Hands, explains the mobile offering of MicroStrategy, with some practical recommendations and guidelines to enable it. At the end of the chapter, the user will be able to identify the offering of MicroStrategy in the mobile arena, and will be able to design and build a specific model in an iPad and Android device.

Appendix A, MicroStrategy Express, explains the various types of MicroStrategy Cloud offerings with relevant screenshots.

Appendix B, Visualization, explains various visualization properties and some of the key visualizations in detail.