BI Architecture and the MicroStrategy Platform

Before planning and creating a project in MicroStrategy, it is important to understand how business intelligence systems work and, specifically, how the MicroStrategy platform interacts with your business data to provide a wide range of functionality.

Business intelligence (BI) systems facilitate the analysis of volumes of complex data by providing the ability to view data from multiple perspectives. An optimum business intelligence application:

• Gives users access to data at various levels of detail

• Allows users to request information and have it delivered to them accurately and quickly

• Provides a foundation for the proactive delivery of information to system subscribers

This chapter introduces you to the basic architecture of BI systems, as well as some of the components within the MicroStrategy platform that allow you to create and analyze your business intelligence.