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Solutions: MicroStrategy and Microsoft

Overview | Unique Optimizations | Certifications & Memberships | SharePoint Portal Integration

MicroStrategy is Uniquely Optimized for Microsoft

Throughout its development, the MicroStrategy BI platform has been fully optimized for Microsoft via investments in scores of Microsoft products and specific features. MicroStrategy is certified to run on Microsoft’s data management products including Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services®. MicroStrategy’s unique 64-bit native BI platform uses a dynamic multi-pass SQL generation engine to leverage the processing power of the Microsoft database products and return only the final results for middle-tier processing. Specifically, by automatically generating optimized SQL for Microsoft SQL Server and optimized MDX (XMLA) for Microsoft Analysis Services, MicroStrategy supports advanced analytics and combines rapid performance with transaction-level and multidimensional data access. 

Additionally, the open architecture offered by the MicroStrategy BI platform leverages the capabilities of Microsoft’s Internet Information Server® and SharePoint® Server. MicroStrategy’s deployment-ready WebParts, which require no additional programming when delivering detailed reports, run seamlessly on Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. This allows customers to integrate insight from the MicroStrategy BI platform into enterprise portals with the full range of OLAP manipulations as well as sophisticated visualization via MicroStrategy’s Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards™.  View demos of MicroStrategy’s Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards »

MicroStrategy integrates directly with the common user interfaces provided by Microsoft. Most MicroStrategy deployments use a standard Web browser to access all five styles of BI. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer® is fully certified to display and interact with all MicroStrategy reports, analyses, and dashboards.

MicroStrategy also integrates with Microsoft Office Suite: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Outlook. MicroStrategy reports and dashboards can be created, selected, and run directly from these Microsoft applications, inheriting the formatting and analytical richness added by MicroStrategy. In addition to adopting Microsoft’s strategic middleware and end user interfaces, all MicroStrategy products run on Microsoft Windows operating systems in 32-bit and 64-bit modes.

MicroStrategy Optimizations for Microsoft SQL Server

The MicroStrategy platform leverages Microsoft's highly parallel query processing architecture to deliver the highest performance and efficiency levels.

SQL Server-specific SQL syntax

  • RANK functions
  • CASE expressions
  • Full outer joins
  • Set operators
  • Sub queries

Seamless support for key SQL Server features

  • Materialized views
  • XML data

Multi-pass SQL for analytical sophistication

  • Use of no local temporary tables
  • Use of SELECT...INTO # syntax for temporary tables
  • Use of derived tables
  • Use of common table expressions
  • Statistics collection on intermediate results

Extensions to SQL Server functionality

  • Aggregate awareness with physical summary tables
  • Middle-tier caching via Intelligent Cubes
  • Middle-tier report caching
  • Application-level partitioning

Supported Web Servers

  • Microsoft IIS 5, 6 and 7