Introduction to Report Creation

Reports display your business data; they are the focus and goal of business intelligence. Reports allow you to gather business insight through data analysis. The results displayed in any MicroStrategy report are often a starting point for further investigation.

You can create grid reports (similar to a standard spreadsheet) and graph reports (displaying data in common business graph styles) to analyze data and provide other analysts with efficient ways to view information specific to their purposes. You can also personalize reports by formatting background colors, titles, and so on.

The report design process begins by answering the following basic questions:

• What data do users need on the report?
• How will this data be formatted to present the results in a useful way?
• How should the appropriate data be selected?

Report Creation Checklist

Creating a report involves the following procedures:

• Creating a report (see How to Create a Report
• Creating a filter. To determine what type of filter to create, see the table in Introduction to Filters, then click the links to see steps to create your filter.
• Determining the display mode for a report (see How to Define the Display Mode for a Report
• Adding prompts to a report. To determine what type of prompt to create, see the table in About Prompts, then click the links to see steps to create your prompt.
• Determining which report export modes are available to users (see How to Define Which Report Export Modes Are Available to Users