Download Brochure | Features | Benefits | FAQs MicroStrategy Products: OLAP Services

1. What is MicroStrategy OLAP Services?
MicroStrategy OLAP Services is an extension to MicroStrategy Intelligence Server that allows MicroStrategy Web and Desktop users to manipulate Intelligent Cubes™. With OLAP Services end users can add or remove report objects, add derived metrics and modify the filter -- all with speed-of-thought response time against Intelligent Cubes. OLAP Services enables full multi-dimensional OLAP analysis within Intelligent Cubes, while retaining users' ability to seamlessly drill through to the full breadth and depth of the data warehouse.

2. What are the Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services?
Intelligent Cubes are user or administrator created multi-dimensional cubes that operate within MicroStrategy Intelligence Server™. On MicroStrategy's BI platform, creating an Intelligent Cube is as easy as creating a report. Intelligent Cubes enable MicroStrategy to combine the speed and interactivity of multi-dimensional OLAP analysis and the analytical power and depth of relational OLAP.

3. What specific features and functionality do I get with OLAP Services?
With OLAP Services MicroStrategy Web, Desktop and Office users can:

• Create unique report views based off an Intelligent Cube.
  With OLAP Services, users can create unique report views by adding or removing attributes and metrics contained within the Intelligent Cube. This allows speed-of-thought report creation and modification with no need to extract data from the data warehouse.

• Create new on-the-fly metric calculations from existing metrics in an Intelligent Cube.
  The new calculation is performed without submitting a new request to the data warehouse.

• Filter their view of the data within an Intelligent Cube.
  The filtering will be performed on MicroStrategy Intelligence Server within the Intelligent Cube.
  

4. How are Intelligent Cubes different from ordinary cubes?
Intelligent Cubes are created automatically when a new report is run against the data warehouse. Subsequent requests by other users can seamlessly hit this new Intelligent Cube. The logic to match user requests with the appropriate Intelligent Cube is automatically handled within the MicroStrategy platform. Users don't have to specify the cube to which they want to connect.

Benefits of Intelligent Cubes include:

• Greater Efficiency - Intelligent Cubes are automatically generated and shared among all users whenever a report is executed by a user or pre-cached by the administrator or a user.

• Easy to Use - Intelligent Cubes can be designed by mainstream BI users, using the same interface and the same operations as are used with basic OLAP analysis.

• More Scalable Cubes - Intelligent Cubes do not need massive pre-calculations or pre-aggregations. The mid-tier Intelligence Server can do these calculations on-the-fly as the cubes are being used.

• Increased Manageability and Reliability - Intelligent Cubes can be configured to expire or refresh automatically whenever underlying data or definitions change.

• Increased Power for End-Users - Users can seamlessly drill through to the full depth of the data warehouse, or slice and dice with speed-of-thought response time within the Intelligent Cube.
  

5. What end user products leverage OLAP Services?
MicroStrategy Web (Analyst and Professional versions), MicroStrategy Desktop (Analyst and Designer versions) and MicroStrategy Office all leverage the functionality enabled by OLAP Services.

6. What does an end-user need to do to take advantage of this?
The usage of OLAP Services is transparent to end-users. Users do not need to know the name and location of an Intelligent Cube, or even if it exists. OLAP Services works with MicroStrategy Intelligence Server to automatically use the appropriate Intelligent Cube or create a new one to satisfy the end user request.

7. How is security handled?
Intelligent Cubes used by OLAP Services automatically inherit all of the security provisions of every report object used within the Intelligent Cube, and those provisions are dynamically applied to each user's security profile when the cube is accessed. If a user only has privileges to use four of the five metrics contained in an Intelligent Cube, that restriction will automatically and seamlessly apply when the user accesses the Intelligent Cube. The user will still have access to the Intelligent Cube for the four metrics he or she has privileges to use.

8. Can I access Intelligent Cubes without OLAP Services?
Yes, with the appropriate version of MicroStrategy Web or Desktop, certain functions leverage the Intelligent Cubes. These functions include: report formatting down to cell level, column aliasing, drilling, pivoting, page-by, adding metric thresholds, adding subtotals, ranking and sorting. Please see the Web and Desktop version comparisons to determine exactly which Web or Desktop version includes the desired functionality.

9. Is OLAP Services sold as a separate product?
Yes, OLAP Services is sold as a separate product that is installed with MicroStrategy Intelligence Server. It is licensed either on a per-user or per-CPU basis.