1. What is MicroStrategy OLAP Services?

MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an extension of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that provides MicroStrategy Desktop, MicroStrategy Office and MicroStrategy Web users with faster and more extensive analytics as part of In-Memory BI.

2. How is MicroStrategy OLAP Services beneficial?

MicroStrategy OLAP Services has the following benefits:

Higher performance at any scale Reduced workload on every part of the system: Less database query time: more users share the same query results in an Intelligent Cube Less MicroStrategy Intelligence Server query time: more users share the same query results in an Intelligent Cube Developer Transparency: new reports hit the fast new Intelligent Cubes automatically, no special direction, no hard coded links User Transparency: users can navigate their entire analytical workflow faster using cubes automatically whenever possible Easy Cube development: two clicks to make a cube from an existing highly used report Familiar Cube Development Interface: leverages the Report Editor interface in MicroStrategy Desktop Optimized Memory Use: with a new Intelligent Cube Monitor and Cube Advisor Create, Save, Reuse, and Share Derived Elements over a zero-footprint Web interface

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3. What are some of the use cases or Business Scenarios that would benefit from MicroStrategy OLAP Services?

Large numbers of people use the same report Multiple Dashboards use the same Intelligent Cube as a dataset Many different derived analytics should be created on the same report Make slow data sources appear to run much faster Save database cycles by needing many fewer jobs Save database cycles by needing many fewer rows Make the most important reports for the Executives faster Make the most complex and long SQL requests run against a cube

4. What is an Intelligent Cube?

An Intelligent Cube is an In-Memory multidimensional cube of data that can serve data to many different reports.

5. What is Dynamic Sourcing?

Dynamic Sourcing is the process of automatically selecting to use an Intelligent Cube for data, rather than querying the database.

6. What is a Derived Element?

A Derived Element is a filter, list, or calculation derived from an attribute on an Intelligent Cube Report, or MicroStrategy Report Services dataset.

7. How big can an Intelligent Cube be?

There is no hard-coded limit.

8. Can these Intelligent Cubes work together?

Yes. If you drill from one cube to another, you never touch the database, and with Dynamic Sourcing, you don't have to use a special command to drill from cube to cube: it happens automatically.

9. What if the data I need isn't in ANY Intelligent Cube?

If the data you need is not in any Intelligent Cube, then the report runs seamlessly against the database using MicroStrategy Intelligence Servers optimized SQL generation engine.

10. Which Intelligent Cube should I build?

While you may have some idea of some obvious candidates, you can also use a new tool, Cube Advisor.

11. What is Cube Advisor?

Cube Advisor is a new tool that scans the MicroStrategy Intelligence Server metadata and suggests the optimal set of Intelligent Cubes to service the reports and users most valuable requests. Cube Advisor can use the MicroStrategy Enterprise Manager data generated from an application, as well as suggest Intelligent Cubes that are optimized for reducing total Database Time, Job Load, User Satisfaction, and Rows Required

12. How easy is it to create a cube?

Using MicroStrategy Desktop, it is just like building a report.

13. What happens to existing MicroStrategy OLAP Services Reports?

Existing MicroStrategy OLAP Services reports will continue to run just as they had before.

14. Do OLAP reports stay the same or do they become Intelligent Cube Reports?
OLAP Reports stay the same, but using Dynamic Sourcing they can retrieve data from the Intelligent Cubes automatically.

15. What is an Intelligent Cube Report?

An Intelligent Cube Report is one that explicitly references an Intelligent Cube as its source.

16. How can we automatically re-point all of the existing reports to go against the Intelligent Cube, instead of the database?
It is not necessary to re-point existing reports to go against Intelligent Cubes. Reports will hit the cubes automatically using Dynamic Sourcing.