Book Image

MicroStrategy Quick Start Guide

By : Fernando Carlos Rivero Esqueda
Book Image

MicroStrategy Quick Start Guide

By: Fernando Carlos Rivero Esqueda

Overview of this book

MicroStrategy is an enterprise business intelligence application. It turns data into reports for making and executing key organization decisions. This book shows you how to implement Business Intelligence (BI) with MicroStrategy. It takes you from setting up and configuring MicroStrategy to security and administration. The book starts by detailing the different components of the MicroStrategy platform, and the key concepts of Metadata and Project Source. You will then install and configure MicroStrategy and lay down the foundations for building MicroStrategy BI solutions. By learning about objects and different object types, you will develop a strong understanding of the MicroStrategy Schema and Public Objects. With these MicroStrategy objects, you will enhance and scale your BI and Analytics solutions. Finally, you will learn about the administration, security, and monitoring of your BI solution.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Foreword
Contributors
Preface
Index

Comparing data across time – Transformations


Transformations are objects that are used inside Metric definitions (we will cover Metrics in the following chapters) to map a time period to another offset time period. The following is a quick reference table for this MicroStrategy Object:

This object will allow users to perform comparisons between different times, such as this month versus last month, or this year versus last year.

Transformation could be defined using an offset calculation or formula. For example, YEAR -1 to define last year. However, due to the complexity and dynamism of some calendars such as 4-5-4 calendars, it is recommended to use database tables (Transformation tables) to define how a current time Attribute should be mapped.

You can check how table-based Transformations are created by navigating to MicroStrategy Tutorial project | Schema ObjectsTransformations and opening any transformation. For example, the Previous Transformation, shown as follows:

Checking table-based...