Custom SQL Queries: Freeform SQL and Query Builder

Freeform SQL and Query Builder provide two alternative methods to access your data and begin analysis with MicroStrategy. Freeform SQL allows you to write your own SQL statements to run directly against a data warehouse or operational data store, giving you full control over accessing your data. Query Builder provides you with a graphical user interface that helps guide you on building SQL queries that can adapt to different data models.

These two features allow you to run queries against ODBC data sources that are not easily modeled to an attribute and fact schema. This includes databases that are a collection of flat tables rather than being defined into fact and lookup tables. You can also save a great amount of time setting up a project to use with Freeform SQL or Query Builder because you are not required to create an attribute and fact schema.

Additionally you can connect to third-party web services to retrieve data and report on that data within MicroStrategy. This is accomplished by using the MicroStrategy Freeform SQL Editor to write XQuery statements to access and retrieve information from a web service.