MicroStrategy license is Absolutely free now

Not within a month after the release of Free Reporting Suite (that's what MicroStrategy, Inc calls the free BI product), MicroStrategy, Inc. is giving away the must have features finally absolutely free. I user named rich Arriaga pointed out the same to me. First, I disbelieved, but I see that there are lot of change on the site itself. But one image showing that you need to pay for must have features still exist (check the image above). I thought I must have had done a mistaken in missing to read NOT INCLUDED during initial launch of Reporting Suite, but the site/license policy is indeed changed.

Also, now MicroStrategy explictly states that that technical support cost 18%, which I had posted earlier. Something that was missing from MicroStrategy, Inc site.

This will certainly help the MicroStrategy professionals community a lot and MicroStrategy clients in long run in easily hiring MicroStrategy professional readily and at good rate.

Filtering Compound Attributes

Scenario:
Attribute1 is a compound key attribute with a ginormous number of values. In fact, there are so many values that when you attempt to see all its elements, you get a spool space error.

You also have a list of a few hundred elements (ID1 and ID2) belonging to this attribute and you somehow must build a report that would only show results for these elements.

Deal breaker:
As mentioned before, manually selecting the elements is out of the question. Not only does the spool space error occurs, but just imagine handpicking hundreds of values.

Having two filters, one for each ID, in which the appropriate values are entered using the “In List” option is also a bad idea. You will get much more than you expect, regardless if there is an “AND” or an “OR” operator between the two filters.

Solution:
As far as I tested, qualifying on multiple IDs of the same attribute is not possible in MicroStrategy, not even in version 9. Theoretically the element qualification is what we are looking for, but as stated before there are certain limitations.

The only solution that I can think of is to create a FreeForm SQL Report. Writing the WHERE block should be no problem, as you can generate it in MS Excel based on the two columns… something like =CONCATENATE("OR (a11.Attribute_ID1 = ",A1," AND a11.Attribute_ID2= ",B1,")").

If you know of better/faster ways, please share.


Update:
A better solution was presented to me by AK.
Simply create an additional attribute DESC form as a concatenation between the two IDs, separated by a pipeline character. From here on it gets much simpler.

1CPU installation on multi-core CPU machine

This is wrt Windows

As per the MicroStratey license, product can not be installed on a machine having more number of CPUs then licensed. OS system sees each core of CPU is seen as separate CPU. don't know what's the case with MicroStrategy. (As per the definitions document of MicroStrategy license)

But tech notes are very contradicting. MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is limited to the number of CPUs purchased, even if the machine hosting MicroStrategy Intelligence Server has more than this number of licensed CPUs. For example, if two CPUs have been purchased, even if a machine where MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is installed has four CPUs, MicroStrategy Intelligence Server will only use two CPUs on that machine.

The good thing is that tt is possible to configure four-processor machine to only use one processor. Likewise, a license for more than four CPUs would allow users to allocate from one to four processors on a four-processor machine.

If you have any information about the same, please share.

Free MicroStrategy license, should you really "Buy" that

I would recommend you NOT jump from you seat by reading the word FREE. If you are a person who is a stakeholder for purchase decision of a BI product, you must be knowing it well that Nothing comes free in life.

Remember following things:

1. The MicroStrategy Reporting Suite may only be used for new MicroStrategy projects. Thus, products downloaded as part of the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite may not be substituted for existing products in existing MicroStrategy installations. Also, MicroStrategy Reporting Suite Technical Support Services pricing is not available for Products in existing MicroStrategy installations.
2. Free Reporting Suite is one and only for client who do NOT have a currently valid license. So don't expect to upgrade your older version to v9 for free.
3. Recipient shall hold all Confidential Information received during the term of this Agreement in confidence during the term of this Agreement and for four (4) years thereafter. This so called Confidential Information is nothing but rates at which software is licensed. Big corporates gets too much of discount due to volume. The 4 years is the reason no one ever gets the idea about the rates which it was licensed for someone negotiating best rates to license of MicroStrategy. When I've got a chances with meeting people who decided to buy MicroStrategy licenses, they all told about the way they negotiated but not rates.
4. If you installed with 100 named user product key, you will have to purchase a 100 named user technical support even though your requirement may not be good enough for 25 named user. This is a very big headache for big companies specially.
5. On each Order, MicroStrategy will state the price of Technical Support Services for a period of one year commencing on the date of delivery of the Products. This is about 17% of the product cost (similar in line with SAP).
6. MicroStrategy Intelligence server send the license compliance information to MicroStrategy Server one a day. Today in the ear where each MicroStrategy machine is known by its unique installation activation, it is damn easy for them to find who is infringing on their licenses. I know in past they have gone suing client for non-compliance of licenses for a minor violation. The option to set time when to send license information is available in I-Server configuration. One can work around it by stop letting the machine access internet on which I-Server is installed. I some time really pity on those clients of MicroStrategy.
7. MicroStrategy's Roles based (named user based) licensing strategy is very tricky for clients.
8. MicroStrategy has time bomb within the Software that shall prevent use of the Software. This time bomb can be triggered by them based on the free license serial key. We don't know if these time bombs attached with free licenses. Sound funny. Read the full license agreement.
9. There is not guarantee of free upgrades anywhere. What if MicroStrategy ask for obscene amount for future upgrades.
10. MicroStrategy is notorious for arm twisting hooked customers with rigid pricing. I personally know of many companies who have drifted from MicroStrategy to other BI tools only because of licensing issues, very costly support, making vital "Named User" license exorbitantly costly. Even my current client is looking for shifting some application to other BI tool.

MicroStrategy Basic for Dummies!

5 very informative online videos to learn basics of MicroStrategy. Deserve a dekho.

1. Set Up and Configure the Server
2. Design Attributes and Hierarchies
3. Design Metrics, Filters, and Prompts
4. Add Users
5. Go Live on the Web

Check out all videos here.

There is a Chines proverb - A Picture can say 1000 words
and Indian upgrade - video can say 1000000 words ;-)

Last but not least, you can learn MicroStrategy of you own provided you have it installed and go though the online tutorials religiously. They rock! Real MicroStrategy Education USD 650 a day tutorials for free reading. If anyone know any method to store them offline, please share. Finally MicroStrategy is serious about having more number of MicroStrategy professionals in world. Hope to see the MicroStrategy books on Amazon too, not with USD 650 tag as charged currently by MicroStrategy Education.

Questions for Narrowcast Server Essentials

1. __________________ is responsible for the creation, formatting, transmission and administration of information services.

2. ________________ is responsible for the gathering of user profiles and preferences through a web-based subscription site.

3. Narrowcast Server information transmitters transmit services using _________ and _________.

4. Which of the following are the featured components of Narrowcast server –

1. Narrowcast Administrator
2. Delivery Engine
3. Portal Administrator
4. Subscription Engine
5. Subscription Portal
6. Alerts Engine

Answer Choices

i. a, b, c, d, e

ii. a, b, c, e, f

iii. a, b, d, e, f

iv. a, b, c, d, e, f

5. Match the following –

Module	Function
a. Information Source	i. Connect to local or remote systems such as SMTP, SMS, WAP servers to deliver formatted content
b. Information Transmission	ii. Transforms raw data provided by information source into formatted message, output formats supported being text, HTML and Excel by default
c. Document Formatting	iii. Used to retrieve personalized information from local or remote systems such as Intelligence Server.

1. a à i, b à ii, c à iii
2. a à ii, b à i, c à iii
3. a à iii, b à i, c à ii
4. a à iii, b à ii, c à i

6. A service can have different publications each supporting a different language.
1. True
2. False

7. The three different information to defined for an e-mail (SMTP) content are _____________________, ______________________ and ______________________.

8. ________________________ is used to view the log when a service is run.

9. Which of the following are true?

1. Content information object pulls dynamic data from an information source.
2. Document is a complete formatted object which can have both static content and dynamic content
3. Document can contain only one information object
4. Publication is a collection of documents specifying the content of a service
5. Publications specify information transmission module, locale and devices

Answer Choices

i. Only a, c and d

ii. Only a, b and d

iii. Only a, b, d and e

iv. a, b, c, d and e

10. Which of the following are true?
1. Information transmission module sets the rules for the types of documents supported by a publication
2. Locale specifies regional characteristics like Language, number, date and time formats
3. Device sets the formatting and transmission properties such as cell padding and embedding image support
4. The device specified in the publication MUST match the device in the subscription set for a recipient

Answer Choices

i. Only a, b and d

ii. Only a, b and c

iii. a, b, c and d

iv. Only b, c and d

11. A service must have at least one publication and at least one distribution set (a combination of subscription set(s) and schedule(s)).
1. True
2. False

12. Service Editor does not allow a user to specify multiple publications while Service Wizard allows a user to specify multiple publications.
1. True
2. False

13. ___________________ determines the number of recipients of a service.

14. ______________________ allows the results of a single report to be parsed and personalized for individual subscribers.

1. Personalized Page Execution
2. Personalized Report Execution
3. Personalized Content Execution
4. Both a and b
5. Both b and c
6. a, b and c

15. Which of the following is true?
1. In Personalized report execution, Narrowcast Server gathers separate prompted report result for each group of subscriptions with the same personalization.
2. In Personalized page execution, Narrowcast Server gathers report results from one report execution and applies personalization separately.
3. In Personalized page execution, Narrowcast Server gathers separate prompted report result for each group of subscriptions with the same personalization.
4. In Personalized report execution, Narrowcast Server gathers report results from one report execution and applies personalization separately.

Answer Choices

i. Only a and b

ii. Only c and d

iii. Only a and c

iv. Only b and d

16. In Personalized page execution, preferences are indicated by answering prompts while in personalized report execution, preferences by selecting a specific page of the content.
1. True
2. False

17. Event-based service can be achieved by
1. Having an event table
2. Having a temporary dummy table along with pre/post SQL statements
3. Both a and b
4. None of the above

18. Personalization of dynamic content exists in different forms in Narrowcast Server namely
1. Preferences
2. Authentication
3. Security
4. Local Selection

Answer Choices

i. Only a and c

ii. a, b, c and d

iii. Only a, c and d

iv. Only a, b and d

19. Subscription preference overrides default user preference for a subscription.
1. True
2. False

20. The answers to question objects set at subscription level can be reused but the answers to question objects at user level cannot be reused.
1. True
2. False

21. What is the object that determines the information from the information source a user is allowed to see?

22. What is the object that determines the information from the information from the information source that a user wants to see?

23. User can create a preference object without a question object.
1. True
2. False

24. A security object prompt must be present in both the question object and the information object
1. True
2. False

25. Scenario: Administrator adds a required security object prompt without default answer and additional required prompt object to the question object and information object. A user does not provide his preferences to this question object.
1. Information object executes fine
2. Information object fails since the required prompt objects go unanswered
3. Information object executes and retrieves the complete result set
4. None of the above

1. Delivery Engine
2. Subscription Portal
3. SMTP and SMPP
4. i
5. c
6. a
7. E-mail subject, E-mail body (HTML) and E-mail attachment
8. System Message Viewer
9. iii
10. iii
11. a
12. b
13. Segment Size
14. a
15. i
16. b
17. c
18. ii
19. a
20. b
21. Security object
22. Preference object
23. b
24. a
25. b

Metric Aliases

This is a little “don’t” that I stumbled upon recently.

Don’t create metric aliases that contain operators such as “-“, “+”, and so long. Although MicroStrategy allows you to do so, the database application (Oracle, Teradata,…) will nag you about expecting “something between – and ,” and of course, the report will stop executing.

Free MicroStrategy license

Finally MicroStrategy has woken up the truth and I must say my blog is definitely a contributor for them (MicroStrategy employees form a very good amount of user of this blog, specially the tech support).

One needs to create a MicroStrategy account before downloading. Account creation is 100% free, no need to have purchased MicroStrategy. (If you are a MicroStrategy professional, you can create a free account and access MicroStrategy tech support unlimited. You just need to use official email address. But don't think that you can migrate your account to your new employer)

After having created your account, click here for your free license key.

You can get free license for up-to 100 named user with 1 CPU restriction. Broadly, MicroStrategy have two types of licensing. Named user and CPU based.

Various support options are here.

But don't expect ability to create hi-fi reporting as this is a scaled down version which doesn't include Reporting Services (dashboard), in-memory BI, Multiple Warehouse and many more. To know instantly know what is in and what is out in this free license, have a look at this illustration.

I don't know what MicroStrategy plans by giving a half hearted version. Pretty frustrating. Why don't they think of SME license like SAP or country specific differential licensing. They are just interested in big corps and satisfying the reporting requirements of them. (MicroStrategy future development is mainly concentrated to top 50 clients. They decide and direct the development, thet's what they call or feel the world by beta program) and MicroStrategy, Inc thinks what suites them (beta program users) will suit all.

MicroStrategy is a very good employer and the most of top employees are like full time MicroStrategy veterans, but I think it a time they should get some fresh recruit to get some fresh ideas for a better future of them and mine too. On whole, I pity on this idea of free MicroStrategy because they have removed the juice out of MicroStrategy in free version. IT would take a quite longer time for compnaies to decide going for purchasing an add-on.
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I'm not well for last 3 weeks, hence no posts. Not fully recovered. Hope to get well soon and post periodically. So bad that I dozed off in office last Monday ;-)

You most significant role in the current MicroStrategy poll

I've created a LinkedIn poll to know what's the most significant role you are playing in the current MicroStrategy project you are working on. Poll here.

A Good comparision betwwen MicroStrategy and Cognos

Ashish Shah, a friend, has posted comparison between MicroStrategy and Cognos, on my MicroStrategy forum. Have a look.

ScanMD for MicroStrategy 9 launched

even if you don't have version 9 of MicroStrategy, just get it. ScanMD update which has come up after ages (not like frequent HF, SP or GA of MicroStrategy). It is toooooo good, even though I have't used yet. Have a look at the tech-note to downlaod new version.

The biggest problem with ScanMD is it would show you tons of errors even though there is just ONE discrepiency in your metadata. So, weeding out one error is a mammoth task. If you fixed a false error, you schema would go for toss forever and even MicroStrategy can't repair it.

Look at the last screen shot in tech-note which says just 4 errors. My God! Just 4. I have ran ScanMD on fresh metadata and found 100+ error. Don't believe it. Just install a fresh v8 and run the older version of ScanMD and you will see. Good job Engine team.

MicroStrategy 9 doesn't work

Installed MicroStrategy 9 just now only to seee that it doesn't work for some file compitability issue. Screenshot attached. :-(

Will post images when have this error rectified.