Report and document analysis and design

In the Help's table of contents, the first book, "Viewing a report and analyzing data," describes steps for a business analyst to execute and analyze a business report in MicroStrategy Developer.

Most of the remaining books in the table of contents provide information necessary for report and document designers to design, create, and modify business reports, documents, Report Services (RS) dashboards, and reporting objects using the MicroStrategy platform.

Report analysis and design

A report is a collection of formatted objects (such as attributes and metrics) specified in the layout of a MicroStrategy report template. The objects on the report determine the calculated values that are displayed when the report is executed. Those values reflect the data in your data warehouse that have satisfied the filtering conditions applied to the report.

A report consists of a template plus any desired filtering conditions. A template specifies which information is to be retrieved and how the results are displayed. A filter specifies the conditions that the data must meet in order to be included in the report results.

When a report is run, you obtain a formatted collection of all of the items (such as attributes and metrics) specified in the template layout that have satisfied the filtering conditions. For example, a report can show you a list of stores in a specific region, the price and volume of stock for a given period of time, or other important information. You can change the general presentation formats and specific formatting details to suit your requirements and preferences.

Report analysis is the process of analyzing business data displayed in existing reports in MicroStrategy Developer. Report analysts can explore report data with the wide range of powerful reporting functionality that report designers can make available to them. Report analysts can also save new reports that result as they explore and manipulate data, making further analysis quicker and more direct. Report analysts can also create basic quick and easy reports of their own to answer simple business questions, using the Report Builder and Report Wizard tools.

In the Help, an analyst can start with the Running and viewing a report topic. Analysts can read detailed information with examples and images showing all of the ways to analyze data on a MicroStrategy report, in the Basic Reporting Help.

Report design is the process of building reports from basic report components, or objects. To design reports you use the Report Editor in MicroStrategy Developer. (You can also design reports using MicroStrategy Web. See the MicroStrategy Web Help for information to use the MicroStrategy Web interface.) The Report Editor also allows you to create report objects such as templates, metrics, filters, drill maps, and so on. As a report designer, you can set up a controlled, user-friendly environment for report analysts.

In the Help, report designers can start with the Designing reports topic. Report designers can read detailed information with examples on how to create report objects and design reports, in the Advanced Reporting Help.

Document analysis and design

A document displays your organization's data in a format that is similar to a PowerPoint presentation, where several grid and graph reports can be viewed at the same time, along with images and text. High-quality, Pixel Perfect™ documents allow you to display your business data in a user-friendly way that is suitable for presentation to management for boardroom-quality material. Examples of documents include scorecards and dashboards, managed metrics documents, production and operational documents, and more. In the Help's table of contents, the "Creating Report Services documents" book contains the information for both document analysts and designers.

Getting started with documents describes steps for an analyst to manipulate the data in a document to analyze business information. Document analysis is the process of analyzing business data displayed in existing documents either in MicroStrategy Developer or Web. Document analysts can explore document data with the wide range of powerful functionality, such as page-by, grouping, and Flash interaction, that document designers can make available to them. Analysts can also read detailed information with examples and images showing ways to analyze data on a document, in the Document and Dashboard Analysis Guide.

The remaining sections of the "Creating Report Services documents" book, beginning with Designing and creating documents, provide information necessary for document designers to design, create, and modify documents. As document designers create documents, they specify the data that appears and control the layout, formatting, grouping, and subtotaling of data. In addition, they can insert pictures and draw borders in the document.

Document designers also create Report Services (RS) dashboards, as described in Designing dynamic enterprise RS dashboards. An RS dashboard is a special type of document. An RS dashboard is commonly only one page long, is intended to be viewed online, and usually provides interactive features that let analysts change how they view the RS dashboard's data. By being only one page long, an RS dashboard makes it easy to view the entire document at the same time and see all the information. An RS dashboard allows interactivity from users, so each user can change how they see the data, within the limits of what the controls allow them. Document designers can read detailed information with examples in the Document Creation Help.

The designer can create more flexible data presentations with RS dashboards than with documents, since more users can be served with a single RS dashboard. Each user can choose to see only the subset of data they are interested in (using panels and selectors) or can choose to see only specific attribute elements or metrics (using a selector).