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Interested but still have questions? Read our Frequently Asked Questions below. If your question isn't answered here, please see the Detailed Q&A.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I go with technical questions on the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite? How can I contact MicroStrategy Technical Support?
MicroStrategy Reporting Suite users have 24/7 free access to online support*, as well as product manuals, readme files, and release notes. Additionally, upon receiving your MicroStrategy Reporting Suite license, and for a period of 60 days, two named support liaisons from your company will be able to contact MicroStrategy Technical Support by email – see What’s Included for more details. Live access to MicroStrategy Technical Support by phone is available for an additional fee – see What You Can Add On for more details.
* To access online support and online training, you will need a MicroStrategy Reporting Suite license.
How can I train my IT staff and end users on MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
MicroStrategy Reporting Suite users have 24/7 free access to 30 hours of online training.* Additionally, MicroStrategy’s Web interface is intuitive and easy for even the most novice users. Instructor-led training is available for an additional fee and may be useful for IT staff and more advanced users, depending on their experience with BI software, IT staff and more advanced users may wish to build on their knowledge set with live, instructor-led courses and certifications. A perennial education pass costs $3,300/user per year and includes unlimited instructor-led courses.
* To access online support and online training, you will need a MicroStrategy Reporting Suite license.
What is the time restriction on the free licenses included in MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
Licenses of the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite are perpetual – there is no time restriction. Please make sure you activate your software within 30 days of installation, as prompted during installation, in order to safeguard your perpetual license.
Which systems does the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite work with?
The MicroStrategy platform runs on Windows®, UNIX®, and Linux® operating systems. MicroStrategy is optimized for all major database platforms, Web servers, and application servers. MicroStrategy is committed to a choice of Open Systems – learn more in the whitepaper on New Opportunities for Business Intelligence Open Systems. For a complete list of supported and certified environments for MicroStrategy Reporting Suite and its components, see the Readme and Release Notes documentation included in the suite.
Is it a major IT initiative to install, develop, and deploy the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
The MicroStrategy Reporting Suite is easy to install, and you can develop and deploy your first reports in less than a day. Email support for 60 days, Online support*, online training*, online video guides*, a Quick Start Guide, and extensive documentation are designed to ensure rapid and successful deployment.
* To access online support and online training, you will need a MicroStrategy Reporting Suite license.
Is it a major IT commitment to maintain MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
The MicroStrategy Reporting Suite requires minimal IT maintenance. MicroStrategy customers are able to support enterprise-class BI applications that serve thousands of users with only a handful of dedicated BI staff. Low IT overhead is achieved with MicroStrategy’s administration capabilities and centralized metadata, and the self-service design of MicroStrategy’s intuitive Web interface.
What kind of reports can I create with the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
The MicroStrategy Reporting Suite enables state-of-the-art departmental reporting applications across all functional areas in all industries. With the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, you will be able to quickly develop and deliver interactive operational and analytical reports that display tabular grids and beautiful graphs from your data, taking advantage of built-in analytics, visualization capabilities, and design-quality formatting.
What kind of internationalization or localization is possible?
MicroStrategy’s Desktop and Web interfaces can be displayed in English, Spanish, German, French, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Swedish, Portuguese, Chinese, Danish and Dutch. Users can personalize their view further, specifying how numbers and dates are formatted and which international character set should be applied to their reports. Additionally, MicroStrategy enables the concurrent deployment of a single application in multiple languages. This ensures that business users can view MicroStrategy interfaces, as well as their own reports, metrics, attributes, and data – essential business information – in their own language. On a related note, MicroStrategy also enables users to customize further the look and feel of the Web interface application, changing color themes and navigation displays according to their preferences.
How can I ultimately migrate my departmental BI applications into an enterprise BI solution?
The MicroStrategy architecture is designed for application integration and scale. Departmental BI applications can be created and integrated into an enterprise-wide BI application using MicroStrategy. MicroStrategy's single shared metadata will contain all reports and underlying reporting objects, ensuring one version of the truth, as you grow and merge your departmental BI applications into a consolidated enterprise BI solution. Departments and workgroups will continue to have independent control over their reports within the enterprise BI environment.
Can we install MicroStrategy Reporting Suite on a multi-core or multi-processor machine?
Yes, MicroStrategy Reporting Suite can be installed on a server with multiple processors and multiple cores. But unless you have upgraded by purchasing Technical Support, your MicroStrategy Reporting Suite software has an affinity to a single core. See What You Can Add On for more details.
Our needs have changed, and now we need to serve more users. How can I add more users to my current license agreement?
You can support up to 100 users with the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite at no charge. If your current license is for less than 100 users, sign into MicroStrategy’s Resource Center and request a new MicroStrategy Reporting Suite license key corresponding to the user-size bundle you need. A new license key will be emailed to you. You will need to update your software registration with the new license key via the MicroStrategy License Manager’s Administration area. You also will need to deactivate the original key you received in order to maintain the MicroStrategy Electronic Delivery Software License Agreement’s terms and conditions – refer to the MicroStrategy License Manager’s Help section for more details.
Beyond 100 users, you must first purchase Technical Support. See What You Can Add On for more details. If you require anything additional to the MicroStrategy Reporting Suite, contact us at an office near you.
Will I have access to product upgrades?
Yes, you will have access to subsequent versions of MicroStrategy Reporting Suite via MicroStrategy’s Resource Center. There is no required purchase of Technical Support.
Fully supported, paying MicroStrategy customers have automatic access to upgrades, service packs, and hot fixes for all of the products they have licensed via MicroStrategy’s Download Site. To become a fully supported, paying MicroStrategy customer, contact us at an office near you.
If you are upgrading your MicroStrategy software, please refer to the MicroStrategy Upgrade Guide included with your MicroStrategy documentation.
I see that MicroStrategy also offers a Free Software Trial to evaluate MicroStrategy. What is the difference between MicroStrategy’s Evaluation Edition and MicroStrategy Reporting Suite?
Both offerings are free, but there are key differences. MicroStrategy Reporting Suite includes free, perpetual licenses of MicroStrategy software available for download in quantities appropriate to let your department start building and using reports quickly and easily.
MicroStrategy’s Evaluation Edition includes nearly all MicroStrategy products, but is a limited to a 30-day trial period. In July 2009, Evaluation Edition was also made available as a “virtual appliance” download, which differs as shown below.
| MicroStrategy Reporting Suite | MicroStrategy Evaluation Edition | MicroStrategy Evaluation Virtual Appliance | |
| Perpetual license for up to 100 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for up to 100 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | not included | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | not included | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| Perpetual license for 2 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| may be purchased | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | not included | |
| may be purchased | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| may be purchased | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | not included | |
| may be purchased | not included | not included | |
| may be purchased | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | |
| may be purchased | 30-day trial for up to 500 named users | not included | |
| DVD or Download | Download only | DVD or Download | Download only |
| Operating Systems | Windows®, UNIX®, and Linux® operating systems* | Windows® operating system | RedHat® Enterprise Linux ® operating system** |
* Please note that MicroStrategy Desktop and MicroStrategy Architect run on the Windows® operating system.
** The Evaluation Edition “virtual appliance” can be downloaded on any Windows or Linux operating system capable of running VMware Player or VMware Server or any other VMware software that is capable of running a virtual appliance. The virtual operating system on which the MicroStrategy products run is RedHat Linux.
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MicroStrategy Reporting Suite
in the News
- “MicroStrategy Releases Free Starter Business Intelligence,” InformationWeek
- “MicroStrategy Offers Free Reporting Software Package for Departmental BI Applications,” DBTA
- “MicroStrategy’s Big Picture,” Information Management
- “MicroStrategy Delivers Free Reporting Suite,” TDWI
- “MicroStrategy Offers Free Reporting Software Package for Departmental BI Applications,” B-Eye Network
- “MicroStrategy Integrates Free BI Tool with Microsoft,” CTO Edge
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