Tips and Techniques on how to better Monitor, Manage and Optimize your MicroStrategy System By: InfoCepts Jan 2013 High ROI DW and BI Solutions Brief Overview of InfoCepts High ROI DW and BI Solutions Helping Our Customers Derive Value from Their Data since 2004 . High quality global delivery model with savings of up to 40% . Founded and led by ex-MicroStrategists . 350+ people devoted to delivering BI, DW 355 and Integration Solutions 250 . We have one of the largest Global pools of MicroStrategy Consultants 167 . 8 years of growth driven largely by referrals 111 and increasing levels of responsibility 71 . Focus on culture and excellence 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 High ROI DW and BI Solutions Our Services Data Management BI Strategic Services BI Application Development & Management . Data Governance & . Enterprise Information . Business Analytics Stewardship Strategy and Planning . Text Analytics . Data Quality . BI Metrics . Predictive Analytics Management . Data Integration . 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Data Design High ROI DW and BI Solutions Our Capabilities Span across Industries and Technologies Technologies BI MicroStrategy, IBM Cognos, Microsoft BI, Pentaho, TIBCO Spotfire, Tableau, OBIEE Data Integration Informatica, SQL Scripts, Microsoft SSIS, Oracle Data Integrator, Talend Databases Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Netezza, Teradata, DB2, Greenplum, AsterData, Vertica, Par Accel, My SQL, PostgreSQL, Essbase Custom MicroStrategy SDK, Cognos SDK, Java, .NET, Flex, Objective C, Yahoo YUI, Ext JS Big Data Hadoop, Hive, Map-Reduce, Cloudera, Riak, Apache Flume, Cassandra Specialized TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks, SPSS, Clarabridge Text Mining Platform, Rapid Miner, Rapid Analytics, CEP Platform Drool Industries Retail, Banking and Financial Services, Online Media, Telecom, Pharmaceuticals, Hospitality, Healthcare, Education High ROI DW and BI Solutions Our Solution Programs . BI Application Support & Optimization . Mobile Application Design and Development . Dashboard and Data Visualization . Custom BI Development . Big Data . Data Quality . BI Testing . BI Application Migration to Cloud High ROI DW and BI Solutions Mobile App Snapshot High ROI DW and BI Solutions Mobile App Snapshot High ROI DW and BI Solutions Mobile App Snapshot High ROI DW and BI Solutions Our MicroStrategy Mobile App Development Program . Mobile App Requirements Questionnaire . App Storyboarding Guidelines . Mobile App Design Templates . Mobile App Design Guide . App Development Checklist . Test Case Document . Mobile Configuration and Deployment Guide High ROI DW and BI Solutions Our Application Management and Optimization (AMnO) Program High ROI DW and BI Solutions Tips and Techniques on how to better Monitor, Manage and Optimize your MicroStrategy System High ROI DW and BI Solutions What are the important issues faced in managing MicroStrategy environment? Why do my Are my reports get MicroStrategy delayed? reports secure? Why has my report Object Migration performance gone takes away a lot of down? my time! How are my Has Testing licenses being Automation helped used? me enough? High ROI DW and BI Solutions “My Critical Reports are Often Late!!” High ROI DW and BI Solutions # 1 Intelligence Sever or Narrowcast Server running Reports Getting out of memory at the time of report execution Delayed Avg. memory Required Memory Pro-active alert to required to > Administrator for execute critical Current Memory? freeing up memory reports Performance Counter Notification e-mail High ROI DW and BI Solutions # 1 Intelligence Sever or Narrowcast Server running Reports Getting out of memory at the time of report execution Delayed High ROI DW and BI Solutions Reports Getting # 2 Delay in ETL Batch Load Delayed Avg. ETL Batch Current Execution Time Pro-active alert to execution time > Administrator on the using ETL tool Avg. Execution Time? possible delay statistics DB Free form SQL report Notification e-mail High ROI DW and BI Solutions Reports Getting # 2 Delay in ETL Batch Load Delayed High ROI DW and BI Solutions “Report Performance Degradation Over Time” High ROI DW and BI Solutions Report Performance #1 Unwanted Cross Joins in a report Degradation Enable “Report Job SQL” Statistics DB Are there reports with cross joins? Send the list to e-mail developers to review the notification necessity of cross joins Remove unwanted cross joins High ROI DW and BI Solutions #2 Fact table is referred more than once in a SQL Report Performance Pass Degradation Enable “Report Job SQL” Statistics DB Are there reports with Fact Table count in a SQL pass >1? Identify and share the e-mail reports with Developers notification Modify wherever possible High ROI DW and BI Solutions #3 Too much processing on Intelligence Server to Report Performance execute a report Degradation Total Report Execution Time Total Report Execution Time Database Analytical Engine Database AE Can also be done using Enterprise Manager For Expensive Reports . Identify reports for which – % Analytical Engine Time > Defined Threshold . Notify Developers to optimize, wherever possible High ROI DW and BI Solutions “Inefficient Object Migration” High ROI DW and BI Solutions Inefficient Object Manual Object migrations across environments Migration . Developers/Leads create Object Migration Package using MicroStrategy Object Manager . Create a folder where all the migration packages will be uploaded . Create a File Watcher script which checks if new file is uploaded . When a new file is detected, object is migrated to the new environment . Send notification of task completion or failure High ROI DW and BI Solutions ! ! Questions / Comments ? High ROI DW and BI Solutions “Security Breach in MicroStrategy ” High ROI DW and BI Solutions #1 Duplicate Attributes in a project Security Breach . Consider an example of Regional Sales Reports Region Region Region1 Regional Manager East Regional Manager East • Region = East • Region = East • Location = East, West, North South . Check if duplicate attribute definition exist using a Command Manager Script . Remove, if unauthorized duplicate attributes exist High ROI DW and BI Solutions #2 Use of Pre – Post SQL VLDB Settings of Security Breach MicroStrategy . Use command manager script to get list of reports where VLDB setting – Pre- Post Statement property is used . Get SQL of the these reports using Integrity Manager . Remove unauthorized Pre – Post statements 28 High ROI DW and BI Solutions #3 User is able to view reports that he/she is not Security Breach entitled to Process Action First time Project Ensure “Everyone” group is not Migration granted project access Command Manager Scripts Ensure Folder Access Control List is not undesirably changed by Object Migration comparing with Baseline Access Control List High ROI DW and BI Solutions #4 Multiple user connection request to MicroStrategy Security Breach Servers in Enterprise environment . Breach of corporate “Password” security policy . Monitor the list of distinct IPs for user by executing command manager script in Statistics Database . Automatically report suspicious activity High ROI DW and BI Solutions “Manual interventions required while using Integrity Manager ” High ROI DW and BI Solutions #1 Manual Test Creation for multiple reports in Integrity Manager Integrity Manager . Create Tests using Test Generator Excel . Basic input parameters to create a test: . Report List . Server Connection Details . Processing Options . Output . MTC file is generated automatically High ROI DW and BI Solutions #1 Manual Test Creation for multiple reports in Integrity Manager Using Perl Script High ROI DW and BI Solutions #2 Manual Creation of Baselines for Critical Reports Integrity Manager . Integrity Manager Executable File is used to run test MTC files to automatically create baselines . Automate the process for multiple reports using batch scripts High ROI DW and BI Solutions #3 Manual Monitoring of Test Results to Integrity Manager determine errors . Write a Batch script to parse Integrity Manager summary XML file . Automated mail alert in case of Erroneous Test results High ROI DW and BI Solutions “Ineffective License Management” High ROI DW and BI Solutions Ineffective License Incomplete view of License usage and allocation Management MicroStrategy License Manager Report . Number of Licenses by Product . Users by Product High ROI DW and BI Solutions Ineffective License Licence Management - How you would like it to be Management Only 1 license being used out of 10- INVESTIGATE Admin and Sales Depts are Over utilizing – REALLOCATE All 11 licenses being used- PLAN User has not logged in for a month - CHECK Over utilizing licences by 1 – IMMEDIATE ACTION High ROI DW and BI Solutions Let’s Summarize Topic To-do steps Proactively manage memory availability Reports Getting Delayed Notify if ETL loads are behind schedule • Detecting Cross Joins Report Performance • Detecting Multiple Fact Table references in a Degradation SQL pass • Analytical Engine time optimization Object Migration Automate Object Migration process • Detecting Duplicate Attributes • Detecting Unauthorized Pre-Post SQL Security Breach statements • Manage unauthorized access to reports • Preventing “password” sharing Automate Test creation Integrity Manager Automate Baseline creation Automate Error Detection License Management License Management Dashboard 39 High ROI DW and BI Solutions iManage High ROI DW and BI Solutions 40 High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions High ROI DW and BI Solutions Presentation Giveaway Giveaway: Key Metrics for MicroStrategy Administrators Will be available on Feb 01, 2013 on: http://www.infocepts.com/microstrategyworld/ Feel free to reach out to us for details of any of the scripts: [email protected] [email protected] 48 High ROI DW and BI Solutions Thank You High ROI DW and BI Solutions .