Strategy ONE
Storing Translated Data: Data Internationalization Models
This section assumes that you understand the structure of your organization's data storage. Table and column creation, maintenance, and alteration is beyond the scope of this guide. For information about data warehouses and how internationalization affects the process of storing and organizing information in the data warehouse, see the MicroStrategy Project Design Guide.
You must connect MicroStrategy to your storage system for translated data. To do this, you must identify which type of storage system you are using. Translated data for a given project is stored in one of two ways:
- In columns and tables within the same data warehouse as your source (untranslated) data (see SQL-Based DI Model)
- Stored in a different data warehouse from your source (untranslated) data (see Connection-Based DI Model)
SQL-Based DI Model
If all of your translations are stored in the same data warehouse as the source (untranslated) data, this is a SQL-based DI model. This model assumes that your translation storage is set up for column-level data translation (CLDT) and/or table-level data translation (TLDT), with standardized naming conventions.
This model is called SQL-based because SQL queries are used to directly access data in a single warehouse for all languages. You can provide translated DESC (description) forms for attributes with this DI model.
If you are using a SQL-based DI model, you must specify the column pattern or table pattern for each language. The pattern depends upon the table and column names that contain translated data in your warehouse. MicroStrategy supports a wide range of string patterns. The string pattern is not limited to suffixes only. However, using prefixes or other non-suffix naming conventions requires you to use some functions so that the system can recognize the location of translated data. These functions are included in the steps to connect the system to your database.
Regular (non-locale-specific) connection maps are treated normally by MicroStrategy if you choose the SQL-based DI model.
This model is recommended if using MicroStrategy Intelligent Cubes. For steps to point MicroStrategy to the correct columns or tables for each language, see Connecting the System to a Single Database: SQL-Based DI Model.
Connection-Based DI Model
If the translated data is stored in different data warehouses for each language, MicroStrategy retrieves the translations using a database connectivity API, namely ODBC. This model is called connection-based because a connection to more than one data warehouse must be made to access data in all languages. This is commonly called warehouse-level data translation (WLDT).
When using a connection-based DI model, you can connect to as many data warehouses as necessary, for example, one for each language. For steps to provide the appropriate database connection information for each data warehouse, see Connecting the System to more than one Database: Connection-Based DI Model.
Choosing a DI Model
You must evaluate your physical data storage for both your source (untranslated) language and any translated languages, and decide which data internationalization model is appropriate for your environment.
MicroStrategy can use either a SQL-based or a connection-based DI model, but not both. For example, if your project supports 10 languages, and 5 of those languages are stored in one data warehouse and the other 5 are stored individually in separate data warehouses, MicroStrategy does not support this storage solution.
The following table describes common translation storage scenarios, and shows you which DI model and translation access method must be used.
| Translation Storage Location | Translation Access Method | Data Internationalization Model |
|
Different tables for each language, in one data warehouse |
Different SQL generated for each language |
SQL-based |
|
Different columns for each language, in one data warehouse |
Different SQL generated for each language |
SQL-based |
|
Different tables and columns for each language, in one data warehouse |
Different SQL generated for each language |
SQL-based |
|
One data warehouse for each language |
Different database connection for each language |
Connection-based |
If you are creating a new data warehouse and plan to implement DI, and you also use Intelligent Cubes, it is recommended that you use a SQL-based DI model, with different tables and/or columns for each language. Because a single Intelligent Cube cannot connect to more than one data warehouse, using a connection-based DI model requires a separate Intelligent Cube to be created for each language. This is very resource-intensive. For information about Intelligent Cubes in general and details on designing Intelligent Cubes for an internationalized environment, see the MicroStrategy In-memory Analytics Help.