Need a BI tool? MSTR is for you!
November 06, 2013

Need a BI tool? MSTR is for you!

Matt Silvy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

9.3.1

Overall Satisfaction with MicroStrategy Analytics

  • Nice front end for complex SQL reports.
  • Display of the data in the MSTR UI.
  • If you know Excel, then MSTR is easy to use from an end user perspective. It is stable and runs cross platform/browser.
  • The UI is kinda dated and not very polished. An engineer designed it - there was no UI designer nor workflow optimization expert. There are many screens which should be optimized, and the UI could be more polished.
  • The system requires significant hardware investment. If you are looking for a system which is responsive, then you should spring for the extra RAM and CPU power as the MSTR stores things in memory. It would be nice if it could summarize the data in a way to make it run faster.
  • Exporting data could be better - MSTR uses the same path to display data to the UI as it does to export it (writing to a file).
  • Even though MSTR says it is DB agnostic, it is not. We tested MS SQL and it was significantly slower and harder to work with than the native MSTR DB.
1. It works!
2. Once it is setup, it keeps running... and running...
3. Power to the people!
4. Once end users try it, they are hooked on it.
5. Clients are very happy with the end product- a BI tool which is easy to use, easy to work with, easy to export their data.
  • Faster for end users to run reports (as compared with an analyst writing the reports).
  • MSTR makes it easier to get large reports out to clients. This saves on time an analyst would take to manually run and email the reports.
  • Employee efficiency is amazing - now line account managers can run their own reports. Amazing.
1. How much data do you have?
2. How large of a server farm do you have? Is there a large budget for hardware (MSTR like to have lots of RAM, CPU, and disk space).
3. Do you have a dedicated MSTR developers or contractors? It can take a while for this to be developed, and not everyone can "find out easily" where to go to do things. Documentation is not a strong point... so you need someone who already knows MSTR.

Using MicroStrategy Analytics

30 - Client services, development, management, and our end user clients.
MSTR is a company-wide BI tool which allows everyone access to the data.
External clients use this as a self service reporting and business intelligence tool for their paid search accounts. This allows them to pull custom reports without having an analyst on staff.
5 - 
  • Excellent problem solving and decision making ability.
  • Proven ability to work independently and as a team member to coordinate deliverables with other department activities.
  • Ability to be flexible and work analytically in a problem-solving environment.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Strong organizational, multi-tasking, and time-management skills.
  • Ability to acquire information and understand the business.
  • Strong service and student orientation.
  • Strategic thinking, change and innovation skills.
  • Ability to manage performance.
  • Ability to plan and monitor for results.
  • Ability to make rational decisions.
  • Willingness and ability to learn new skills.

Required Experience

  • Bachelor's degree in computer science preferred.

  • Minimum of five years' experience in a professional development
    environment having participated in all facets of the software
    development life cycle.
  • Minimum of five years' experience with MicroStrategy 9x, SQL, SQL Server 2008/2012.
  • Experience using MicroStrategy Architect to create schema objects including facts, attributes, relationships and hierarchies.
  • Experience creating reports, documents, dashboards, metrics, filters, prompts, consolidations, and custom groups.
  • Understanding of data warehousing concepts including Star and Snowflake Schema, online analytical processing (OLAP).
  • Prior business experience in higher education and an advanced degree are preferred.
  • All client data, by month.
  • Client data by category.
  • Client data by portfolio.
  • Dashboards for client reporting.
  • Automated reporting.