MicroStrategy ONE
About prompts
A prompt allows a user to provide an answer to restrict or filter data during report execution. For example, the user can answer the Northeast region or 2022, and the appropriate data is returned from the data warehouse. Therefore, prompts allow report designers to create reports that let users change the report content at run time. Prompts can modify the definition of custom groups, filters, metrics, and templates, as well as reports.
Prompts allow a user to execute a report multiple times, selecting a different answer to a given prompt each time. This allows immediate comparisons. For example, create a filter with a prompt, such as for Year, then put the prompted filter on a report. When a user runs the report, he is asked to specify which year to view. The user can run the report the first time using 2022 and then run it a second time using 2023.
A report designer can include one or more prompts in any report. Prompts are an effective tool for the report designer, because:
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Prompts allow each user who executes the report to request individualized sets of data from your data source when he answers the prompts and runs the report. Effectively, each user creates his own filter for the report.
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Prompts can allow the report designer to create a smaller number of reports overall, using more inclusive objects, rather than having to create numerous, more specific reports that are individualized to each analyst.
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Prompts allow the report designer to ensure that the objects on a report are the latest available objects in the project. This is possible using a search object in a prompt. When a user launches a prompt by running a report, the search object goes through the project and retrieves the latest objects that fit the search criteria the report designer defined. Thus, no matter when the prompt was created, each time a user executes the report, the user chooses prompt answers from a list of the most up-to-date objects available in the project, including objects that may not have existed when the prompt was created.
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Prompts allow users to keep the objects on their saved reports up-to-date, because users can save a prompted report so that the objects within the prompt remain connected to the original objects within the project that they were originally based on when the prompt was created. If objects are modified or deleted in the project, the report can reflect those changes the next time the prompted report is run.
With prompts, you can let the user decide how to restrict the data to be returned from the data source.
A prompt is similar to a filter because a prompt determines the specific data to be displayed on a report. The difference, from a report designer's perspective, is that you create a filter for a report to provide a single, specific definition for the report. A filtered report then displays the same set of data to every user who executes that report. In contrast, a prompt dynamically modifies the contents of a report. With prompts, users can determine the objects (attributes, attribute elements, metrics, and so on) they want to be part of, or excluded from, the report query that is sent to the data source. Therefore, a prompt can be seen as a way for users to create their own filter for a given report. For example:
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Users can choose from among several existing filters to determine exactly what filter will screen the data on the report they are about to execute. To achieve this, create an object prompt that contains existing filters and place that object prompt on a report. Then the user can choose which filter to apply to the report.
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Prompts allow a report to have a dynamic report definition, which users can change each time they submit the query by choosing different answers when prompted. If you create an attribute prompt containing the Year attribute, users are prompted to select the year for which they want the report results. The report can be run the first time by selecting 2025 and then a second time by selecting 2026.
Prompts can be classified into different types, each one allowing a different type of question to be asked. These types are described in Types of prompts.
For more information about prompts, refer to the following topics:
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Components of a prompt: Describes the pieces that control how a prompt appears and how it functions.
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Types of prompts: Contains descriptions of the different types of prompts, with links to examples and procedures. Each type of prompt allows a different type of question to be asked.
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Prompts in reports: Contains a table to help you decide how and where to add a prompt to a report.
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Prompts in documents: Describes how the prompts in the dataset reports of a document are displayed, and the default order that they are displayed. Also contains instructions to change the order.
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Allowing personal answers for prompts: Describes personal answers, which allow a user to save prompt answers for a specific prompt, and then reuse the answers on any report that the prompt is used on.
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Answering prompts on a report: Provides instructions to guide you through answering prompts when you execute a report.
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Prompts for mobile devices: Describes the prompts that can be used in a report that will be displayed on a mobile device using MicroStrategy Mobile. For steps to create and answer prompts on a mobile device, see the MicroStrategy Mobile Analysis Help.
Stand-alone prompt vs. prompt as part of report or filter
These topics primarily describe how to create stand-alone prompts. A stand-alone prompt is a prompt that is created as an independent MicroStrategy object. A stand-alone prompt can then be used on many different reports, as well as on filters, metrics, and other objects, and can be used by other report designers. A stand-alone prompt gives report designers flexibility.
However, in MicroStrategy, prompts can also be created as an intrinsic part of a given report, at the same time the report itself is being created. Prompts created as part of a report are saved with the report's definition. Therefore, a prompt created as part of a report cannot be used on any other report.
Prompts can also be created as an intrinsic part of a filter, at the same time the filter itself is being created. Prompts created as part of a filter are saved with the filter's definition. Therefore, a prompt created as part of a filter cannot be used on any other filter.
No matter how a prompt is created, whether stand-alone or as part of another object, each approach allows you to create most prompt types described in these topics. Both stand-alone prompts and prompts created as part of another object accomplish the same results: the user is presented with one or more questions to answer, and the answers determine the data used when calculating the results displayed on a report.
Prompts and security filters
Security filters in MicroStrategy restrict a user's ability to access or view certain objects within a given MicroStrategy project. As a result, a security filter can limit the data a user sees on a report, even if the report is designed to display a broader set of data. For example, a report shows revenue data for all geographical regions of the U.S., but a set of users may have a security filter assigned to their MicroStrategy user accounts that limits the display of data to only the Northeast region.
For prompts, this means that users who have a security filter assigned to them may only see certain prompt answers to choose from when they execute a prompted report, even when the prompt creator has explicitly defined a broader set of prompt answers to be available to users of that report.
When describing what prompt answers will be available to users, the assumption is that no security filter restricts an individual user's access to certain objects or object elements. However, most environments use security filters, so it is important to be aware of the potential impact of a security filter on a user's experience when answering a prompt. Consider this possibility when designing a specific prompt for your users' reporting needs.
For details on security filters, see the System Administration Help.