What MicroStrategy Does
MicroStrategy’s flagship platform is built to enable businesses to connect to various data sources, analyze data, and present insights through interactive and intuitive tools. The platform is geared towards both business users and BI professionals, allowing them to perform tasks such as data discovery, data wrangling, data visualization, and advanced big data analytics without the need for extensive coding knowledge.
Key Features and Functionality
Data Connectivity and Integration
MicroStrategy can connect to a wide range of data sources, including relational databases, flat files, big data sources, social media platforms, and cloud systems. This versatility allows for the blending of data from multiple sources to provide a unified view of business data.
Data Discovery and Wrangling
The platform includes robust data discovery features that enable users to connect to any data source and blend data from various sources. It also offers extensive data wrangling capabilities, including automatic recommendations and history scripts that remember data transformations, making it easier for business users and data scientists to work with data.
Data Visualization and Analytics
MicroStrategy features a wide range of analytical capabilities, including interactive dashboards, scorecards, ad hoc queries, automated report distribution, and highly formatted reports. It also includes a library of over 300 OLAP, mathematical, financial, and data mining functions to help users understand data relationships, create business metrics, and build advanced statistical analyses.
Relational Online Analytical Processing (ROLAP) Architecture
Unlike traditional multidimensional online analytical processing (MOLAP) architectures, MicroStrategy’s ROLAP architecture allows users to “drill anywhere” in the entire relational database, down to the transactional level of detail. This enables the use of a virtual multidimensional cube structure to express complex relational databases, making data navigation easier for business users.
AI and Automation
MicroStrategy incorporates advanced AI capabilities, such as Auto Answers and Bots, which can answer complex, multi-faceted questions and provide natural language summaries of dashboard pages. The platform also supports personalized learning, where AI adapts based on user feedback and clarifications, improving future interactions.
Cloud and Deployment Flexibility
The platform can be deployed on-premises with Windows or Linux servers or as a service in the AWS or Microsoft Azure clouds. Users can access MicroStrategy applications and services via the web, Windows, Mac, and mobile devices.
Customization and Integration
MicroStrategy provides a software developer kit (SDK) and APIs that allow users to customize applications and integrate MicroStrategy functionality with third-party analytics tools like Tableau and Power BI, as well as Microsoft Office integration. The platform also supports multiple OIDC and SAML configurations for enhanced security and identity management.
User-Friendly Tools
The platform includes code-free development tools that enable end users to build transaction-enabled analytics apps, optimizing operations and boosting productivity. Features like HyperIntelligence ensure real-time data availability everywhere, enhancing user experience and decision-making capabilities.
Administration and Security
MicroStrategy offers robust administrative tools, including management, configuration, and tuning of the platform, security capabilities such as authentication and authorization, and internationalization. It also supports advanced server settings, such as dynamic working set limits and cube cache management, to optimize performance.
In summary, MicroStrategy is a powerful BI platform that offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features designed to facilitate data-driven decision-making, enhance business processes, and provide seamless integration with various data sources and third-party tools.