BI architecture & MicroStrategy Platform

BI Architecture

A BI architecture has the following components:
* A source system—typically an online transaction processing (OLTP) system, but other systems or files that capture or hold data of interest are also possible
* An extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) process
* A data warehouse—typically an online analytical processing (OLAP) system
* A business intelligence platform such as MicroStrategy

Source Systems => ETL Process => Data Warehouse => MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy Platform
Main components of MicroStrategy platform:
MicroStrategy metadata--a repository that stores MicroStrategy object definitions and information about the data warehouse
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server--an analytical server optimized for enterprise querying, reporting, and OLAP analysis
MicroStrategy Desktop--an advanced, Windows-based environment providing a complete range of analytical functions designed to facilitate the deployment of reports
MicroStrategy Web and Web Universal--a highly interactive user environment and a low-maintenance interface for reporting and analysis
MicroStrategy project--where you build and store all schema objects and information you need to create application objects such as reports in the MicroStrategy environment, which together provide a flexible reporting environment

Source System                 MicroStrategy
    ||
ETL process              Metadata  Intelligence Server
    ||                            ||
Data Warehouse =>               Project
                                  /\
                           Desktop  Web/Web Universal
                                  \/
                           Reports and Documents

MicroStrategy metadata
MicroStrategy metadata is a repository that stores MicroStrategy object definitions and information about your data warehouse
The information is stored in a proprietary format within a relational database
The metadata maps MicroStrategy objects—which are used to build reports and analyze data—to your data warehouse structures and data
The metadata also stores the definitions of all objects created with MicroStrategy Desktop and Web such as templates, reports, metrics, facts, and so on

In general, report creation in MicroStrategy is achieved through using various types of objects which represent your data as report building blocks
You can build and manipulate several fundamentally different kinds of objects in MicroStrategy; these objects are all created and stored in the metadata repository:
* Configuration objects(database instances, users, groups)
* Schema objects
  - Facts
  - Attributes
  - Hierarchies(time hierarchy)
* Application objects(reports, documents, filters, templates, custom groups, metrics, prompts)

The metadata enables the sharing of objects across MicroStrategy applications by providing a central repository for all object definitions
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server evaluates the most efficient data retrieval scenario to provide excellent query performance.

MicroStrategy Intelligence Server
MicroStrategy Intelligence Server is an analytical server optimized for enterprise querying, reporting, and OLAP analysis
The important functions of MicroStrategy Intelligence Server:
* Sharing objects
* Sharing data
* Managing the sharing of data and objects in a controlled and secure environment
* Protecting the information in the metadata
* Protecting the information in the metadata

MicroStrategy Intelligence Server also provides a library of over 150 different sophisticated mathematical and statistical functions

MicroStrategy Desktop
MicroStrategy Desktop is an advanced, Windows-based environment providing a complete range of analytical functionality designed to facilitate the deployment of reports
MicroStrategy Desktop provides the project designer functionality essential to creating both schema and application objects necessary to serve the user communities of both MicroStrategy Desktop and Web

MicroStrategy Web and Web Universal
MicroStrategy Web provides users with a highly interactive environment and a low-maintenance interface for reporting and analysis
Using the Web interface, users can access, analyze, and share data through any web browser on many operating systems
MicroStrategy Web provides ad-hoc querying, industry-leading analysis, quick deployment, and rapid customization potential, making it easy for users to make informed business decisions

MicroStrategy Web Universal is a version of MicroStrategy Web that provides the added benefits of also working with:
* Operating systems such as Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, Red Hat Linux, and HP-UX
* Application servers such as BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, Sun ONE, Oracle, and Apache Tomcat
* All web servers and browsers supported by MicroStrategy Web

MicroStrategy project
A project is where you build and store all schema objects and information you need to create application objects such as reports in the MicroStrategy environment, which together provide a flexible reporting environment
A project:
* Determines the set of data warehouse tables to be used, and therefore the set of data available to be analyzed
* Contains all schema objects used to interpret the data in those tables
* Contains all reporting objects used to create reports and analyze the data
* Defines the security scheme for the user community that accesses these objects

MicroStrategy Components: