MicroStrategy Interview Questions and Answers

MicroStrategy Interview Questions

Q1) How long does it take to get Microstrategy Desktop up and running?

Ans: Microstrategy Desktop installs in minutes and automatically presents a list of available Microstrategy Intelligence Servers. Within an hour, the installation and setup are completed.

Q2) How does Microstrategy Desktop integrate with the rest of the Microstrategy platform?

Ans: Microstrategy Desktop is the intuitive client-server interface used by business analysts and application developers. Microstrategy Desktop interacts with the Intelligence Server to build metrics, create and format reports, and retrieve timely, accurate information to the desktop to enhance the decision-making process.

Q3) What security is provided with Microstrategy Desktop?

Ans: Microstrategy Desktop provides a host of security options to ensure that data is kept confidential and private. To facilitate easy deployment and minimal maintenance, Microstrategy Desktop integrates with Windows NT and 2000 security and with the Novell directory. As a result, users who have logged into these systems will not need to log on again.

Q4) Is the Microstrategy MDX engine certified by SAP?

Ans: Yes. This new Dynamic MDX Engine generates optimized MDX syntax that is fully certified with SAP BW using SAP’s high-performance BAPI interfaces.

Q5) Can users join data across SAP BW Info Cubes and Query Cubes?

Ans: Yes. Users can use Microstrategy Desktop to create reports that access SAP data and join data across SAP BW Info Cubes and Query Cubes as well as access multiple instances of SAP BW at once.

Q6) Difference between Microstrategy and Cognos?

Ans:

Q7) To what extend can Microstrategy Desktop be personalized?

Ans: Each Microstrategy Desktop user has a security profile defined by their administrator. This profile controls access to application functionality, specific reports, or particular data for individual users or groups of users. The Desktop interface will adapt and display only what this user is allowed to see

Q8) Can Microstrategy Desktop join data across heterogeneous data sources?

Ans: Yes. Microstrategy 8 extends the Microstrategy data modelling flexibility to include integrated views of data across heterogeneous data stores. By mapping conforming dimensions from different sources, Microstrategy Desktop can automatically join data from multiple different sources in the same report document. Data can come from any source accessible by Microstrategy 8, including the data warehouse, data marts, SAP BW, and any number of operational system databases

Q9) Does Microstrategy provide predictive modelling capabilities commonly available in data mining tools?

Ans: Yes. Microstrategy 8 can calculate four of the primary data mining functions including neural network algorithms, clustering algorithms, regression algorithms, and tree algorithms.

Q10) Can Microstrategy incorporate best-of-breed data mining insight into mainstream business reports and analysis?

Ans: Yes. Microstrategy 8 has extended its analytic engine with a “Data Mining Services” capability that allows reports and analyses to include predictive capabilities in every Microstrategy report or analysis. Microstrategy 8 includes the new ability to import data mining models directly from best-of-breed data mining products from vendors like IBM, Teradata, SAS, and SPSS using the new PMML or predictive modelling mark-up language standard.[/sociallocker]

Q11) What is Microstrategy Narrowcast Server?

Ans: Microstrategy Narrowcast Server is a software product that monitors and delivers individualized information to users via email, web portals, and wireless devices such as PDAs, pagers, and phones. Through an easy-to-use web page, users specify what information they want, when, and how they want to receive it.

Q12) Can I access Intelligent Cubes without OLAP Services?

Ans: 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.

Q13) Is OLAP Services sold as a separate product?

Ans: 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.