MicroStrategy Interview Question and Answer

Q1. What is MicroStrategy?

Answer: MicroStrategy is a powerful business intelligence and analytics platform that allows organizations to transform data into actionable insights for decision-making.

Q2. What are the key components of MicroStrategy?

Answer: The key components of MicroStrategy include Intelligence Server, Web Server, Architect, Developer, Mobile, and Analytics.

Q3. Explain the difference between a report and a dashboard in MicroStrategy.

Answer: A report is a collection of data and visualizations presented in a tabular format, while a dashboard is a collection of reports, visualizations, and metrics presented in a single interface.

Q4. How do you create a derived metric in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Derived metrics can be created in MicroStrategy using the Formula Editor or by using pre-defined functions and operators.

Q5. What are the various types of prompts in MicroStrategy?

Answer: MicroStrategy supports various types of prompts, including attribute prompts, value prompts, and metric prompts, which allow users to filter and select data dynamically.

Q6. Explain the concept of drilling in MicroStrategy.

Answer: Drilling in MicroStrategy allows users to navigate from summarized data to more detailed levels by expanding or collapsing hierarchical dimensions.

Q7. What is the difference between a public object and a private object in MicroStrategy?

Answer: A public object is accessible to all users in the project, while a private object is only accessible to the user who created it.

Q8. How can you improve the performance of MicroStrategy reports?

Answer: Performance can be improved by optimizing SQL queries, using intelligent cubes, enabling caching, and applying appropriate indexing on the database side.

Q9. What are the security mechanisms in MicroStrategy?

Answer: MicroStrategy provides various security mechanisms such as object-level security, user and group-level security, data security filters, and integration with external security systems.

Q10. Explain the concept of attribute relationship in MicroStrategy.

Answer: Attribute relationships define the logical relationships between attributes in a project, allowing MicroStrategy to optimize query performance and navigation.

Q11. What is the purpose of a prompt answer in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Prompt answers allow users to provide input to parameterized reports and dynamically filter data based on their selections.

Q12. How can you schedule and distribute reports in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Reports can be scheduled and distributed in MicroStrategy using the Distribution Services functionality, allowing reports to be sent via email or saved to a shared location.

Q13. What is the role of the MicroStrategy Desktop tool?

Answer: MicroStrategy Desktop is a data discovery and exploration tool that allows users to connect to data sources, build reports, and perform ad-hoc analysis.

Q14. How can you integrate external data sources with MicroStrategy?

Answer: MicroStrategy provides connectivity options to various data sources, including databases, spreadsheets, and web services, allowing seamless integration of external data.

Q15. Explain the concept of attribute forms in MicroStrategy.

Answer: Attribute forms represent different ways of viewing attribute data, such as different levels of granularity or hierarchies, within a MicroStrategy project.

Q16. How can you create a dynamic aggregation in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Dynamic aggregations can be created using the Aggregation Designer in MicroStrategy, which allows users to define custom aggregations based on specific conditions.

Q17. What is the purpose of a fact in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Facts represent numeric values in a MicroStrategy project and are used for calculations, metrics, and aggregations.

Q18. How can you apply conditional formatting to reports in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Conditional formatting can be applied in MicroStrategy by setting up formatting rules based on specified conditions, allowing visual emphasis on data based on thresholds or criteria.

Q19. How can you create a derived attribute in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Derived attributes can be created in MicroStrategy by defining logical expressions using existing attributes and operators to generate a new attribute with derived values.

Q20. What is the role of MicroStrategy Architect in the development process?

Answer: MicroStrategy Architect is used for designing and creating the logical and physical data models, schema objects, and metadata required for building MicroStrategy projects.

Q21. How can you create a dynamic filter in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Dynamic filters in MicroStrategy can be created using the Filter functionality, where users can define conditions based on attributes, metrics, or other criteria to dynamically filter data.

Q22. What are the different join types in MicroStrategy?

Answer: MicroStrategy supports various join types, including inner join, outer join (left, right, and full), cross join, and self-join, to establish relationships between tables.

Q23. Explain the concept of data drilling paths in MicroStrategy.

Answer: Data drilling paths define the hierarchical paths that users can follow to drill up or drill down through the dimensions in a report or dashboard, enabling data exploration.

Q24. What is the purpose of the MicroStrategy Integrity Manager?

Answer: The Integrity Manager is a tool in MicroStrategy used for ensuring data accuracy, consistency, and quality by identifying and resolving data integrity issues within a project.

Q25. How can you create a custom report template in MicroStrategy?

Answer: Custom report templates can be created in MicroStrategy by designing a report layout with desired formatting and saving it as a template for reuse in future reports.