Application Design Considerations

Depending on how you design applications in Narrowcast Server, you can place more or less load on Intelligence Server. Two main options to consider are personal report execution and personal page execution.

Personal report execution (PRE) executes a separate report for each set of users with unique personalization. Users can have reports executed under the context of the corresponding Intelligence Server user if desired. Using this option, security profiles defined in Developer are maintained. However if the system contains many users who all have unique personalization, this option can place a large load on Intelligence Server.

Personal page execution (PPE) executes one multi-page report for all users in a segment and then uses this single report to provide personalized content (pages) for different users. All users have their reports executed under the context of the same Intelligence Server user, so individual security profiles are not maintained. However, the load on Intelligence Server may be significantly lower than for PRE in some cases.

For more detailed information about these options, refer to the Narrowcast Server Application Designer Guide, specifically the section on Page Personalization and Dynamic Subscriptions.

Two additional points to consider in designing your Narrowcast Server applications are:

• Timing of Narrowcast Server jobs: You can schedule reports to run at off-peak hours when Intelligence Server's load from MicroStrategy Web products and Developer users is lowest.
• Intelligence Server selection: You can send Narrowcast Server jobs to a specific Intelligence Server to ensure that some Intelligence Servers are used solely for MicroStrategy Web products or Developer.