The main menu of MicroStrategy shows a column named Status. When we click on that column, as shown in the following screenshot, the Share option appears:
The other option is the Share button within our reports, that is, the view that we want to share. Select the Share button located at the bottom of the screen, as shown in the following screenshot:
The share options are the same, regardless of the location where you activate the option; the various alternate menus are shown in the following screenshot:
While selecting the e-mail option from the Scorecards-Dashboards model, the system will ask you for the e-mail programs that you want to use in order to send an e-mail; in our case, we select Outlook.
MicroStrategy automatically prepares an e-mail with a link to share it. You can modify the text, and select the recipients of the e-mail, as shown in the following screenshot:
The recipients of the e-mail will click on the URL that is included in the e-mail, send it by this schema, and the user will be able to analyze the report in a read-only mode with only the Filters panel enabled.
The following screenshot shows how the user will review the report. Also, the user is not allowed to make any modifications.
This option does not require a MicroStrategy platform user account.
When a user clicks on the link, he is able to edit the filters and perform their analyses, as well as switch to any available layout, in our case, scorecards and dashboards. As a result, any visualization object can be maximized and minimized for better analysis, as shown in the following screenshot:
In this option, the report can be visualized in a fullscreen mode by clicking on the fullscreen button [
] located at the top-right corner of the screen. In this sharing mode, the user is able to download the information in Excel and PDF formats for each visualization object. For instance, if you need all the data included in the grid for of the stores in region 1 opened in the year 2000. Perform the following steps:
- In the browser, open the URL that is generated when you select the e-mail share option.
- Select the ScoreCard tab.
- In the Open Year filter, type
2012and in the Region filter, type1. - Now, maximize the grid.
- Two icons will appear in the top-left corner of the screen: one for exporting the data to Excel and the other for exporting it to PDF for each visualization object, as shown in the following screenshot:
The portable dashboard option will generate an interactive PDF (with flash technology embedded in it) that you can send via e-mail or analyze in an offline mode.
This option is very useful to share our reports with key directors when they are on the road or outside of their office, where there is no network connectivity. The following screenshot shows our model in the PDF reader:
The objects in the PDF report are "clickable". You can select any layout, in our case, scorecards or dashboards, and maximize any visualization object that is available for better analysis.
The procedure to generate a portable dashboard is quite simple. Click on the share button [
] from the main menu or the Share button if you are in the editing mode of the model, and select a portable dashboard option; the system will request you to save or open the created PDF.
This PDF can be shared via e-mail or in your intranet system. The required data is embedded in the file; therefore, a connection to the network is not required.
MicroStrategy allows you to share your insights with friends, colleagues, and followers on Facebook and Twitter. The MicroStrategy share options include the option to share our dashboard in our Facebook or Twitter timeline.
When we select this option, MicroStrategy accesses our Facebook and Twitter accounts (requires our authorization) in order to post the message.
The following screenshot shows the dialog screen that appears while selecting the Facebook option for sharing your insights:
The registration/sign-in dialog screen will appear while selecting the Twitter option for sharing the analysis, as shown in the following screenshot:
This option is very useful if the people who will review the report belong to our social networks, as well as when our report includes public information, and when we need to share the key figures with our audiences as part of a communication strategy.
If we need to insert our dashboard in a specific web page or blog, MicroStrategy offers the option via HTML code.
When we select this option, MicroStrategy shows the code that is to be copied, as shown in the following screenshot:
Select the code via the copy function (Ctrl + C in Windows). In our case, the code is as follows:
<iframe scrolling="auto" width="640" height="480" src="https://my.microstrategy.com/MicroStrategy/servlet/mstrWeb?pg=shareAgent&documentID=2CF2D93C11E260B8000000802FD7A04C&RRUid=1601634&starget=1"></iframe>
In order to view the results, we generate a blog in the blogger platform (www.blogger.com,) and post the code generated by MicroStrategy. The results can be seen in the following screenshot:
As you can see, the copied code refers to the MicroStrategy report that we share.
The objective of this option is to complement the report with more contextual and support information such as detailed sales reports and product portfolio.
One key advantage of the embedded (social) sharing option is the collaboration and feedback functionality that internal blogs or an organization's web application can provide. Users may give feedback or ask questions/clarifications using the organization's internal blog functionality. For instance, the commercial VP asks a question related to the performance in the region, and the regional manager responds with details using the organization's internal web application.
All the information logged in the conversation between the commercial VP and the regional manager is available for other users of the web application to review and further, comment if required under the same report. Here, it is important to discuss that an organization does not necessarily need to set up any such web application for collaboration, as the MicroStrategy web application also provides reports or document-reviewing capability in the application itself. This collaboration feature is available with the use of the NOTES feature in the document.
When we share a report via the different options that we already described, the security is controlled via the URL that MicroStrategy generates. This means that the security with this alternative has only two statuses: access or no access.
If we need to stop the sharing of our reports, that is, no access, we need to perform the following procedure:
- In the main menu of the MicroStrategy interface, click on the desired report.
- Select the Unshare option in the Scorecards – Dashboards panel as shown in the following screenshot:
Now that the report is no longer shared, the URL sent via e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook, or embedded in our blogs is no longer valid, and the user will receive an error.
When we share a report, as we already mentioned, a web page URL is generated in order to be shared via several channels. The URL generated by MicroStrategy leverages the latest web technologies and is fully compatible with mobile devices having iOS and Android operating systems.
The following figure shows the URL on an Apple iPhone and an Android mobile device respectively:
The following figure shows the URL on an Apple iPad and an Android tablet respectively:
Congratulations! You already created your first mobile app without any code or technical specialist supporting you.
Please keep in mind that in order to access the report via a mobile device, you require an Internet connection. But don't worry if you need to work on your mobile device in an offline mode; we will learn how to do that in Chapter 7, BI Reports at Your Hands.