Readers:

Last night, I installed MicroStrategy v9.4.1 on my laptop. I already have MicroStrategy v9.3.1 Hotfix 3 on it, but want to start experimenting with some of the new features.

I have a 10 seat license that any legitimate business can download and use for free. The link to apply and download the 10 seat version is here.

Before I talk about some of the interesting components of this install, I want to say that this was the easiest and smoothest install (actually, an upgrade) of any MicroStrategy product I have had. I installed the whole enchilada; Intelligence Server, Web Server, Mobile Server, etc.

I hope you find these notes helpful.

I have some other really interesting commentaries I am working on and hope to be able to share with you soon.

Best Regards,

Michael

Impact of the Upgrade

My scenario involved the following configuration:

MicroStrategy Software:

• I already had MicroStrategy v9.3.1 Hotfix 3 installed on my laptop.

Laptop Configuration:

• Windows 7 Professional with Service Pack 1
• Intel Core i7 CPU @ 2.20 GHz
• 64-Bit Operating System
• 6.0 GB RAM
• 600 GB Hard Disk

Here are a few name/product changes MicroStrategy Made:

• MicroStrategy v9.4.1 is referred to now as MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise.
• MicroStrategy Desktop is renamed to MicroStrategy Developer.
• MicroStrategy Distribution Services replaces Narrowcast in v9.x.

Upgrading to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise can have a significant impact on your system. The sections below cover some of the specific effects of upgrading.

Client/Server Interoperability

MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise clients and servers are interoperable with MicroStrategy clients and servers from version 9.0.2 and later. However, full feature support may not be available when the MicroStrategy client and server are on different versions. To ensure full feature support, upgrade all clients and servers to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise.

MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise is not interoperable with pre-9.0.2 releases. That is, clients (such as MicroStrategy Web or Developer) from MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise cannot communicate with servers (such as Intelligence Server or MicroStrategy Web Server) from pre-9.0.2 releases, and clients from pre-9.0.2 releases cannot communicate with servers from MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise.

If your system is using a version of MicroStrategy prior to 9.0.2, all clients and servers must be upgraded to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise at the same time.

All MicroStrategy products on an individual machine must use the same version of MicroStrategy. In my case, since my laptop is my only environment, I will be upgrading all components to v9.4.1. Do not install or upgrade only some MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise products on a machine containing older versions of other MicroStrategy products. For example, if you upgrade your Intelligence Server to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise, and the Intelligence Server machine contains a copy of Developer, make sure you upgrade Developer on that machine to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise as well.

In addition, if a MicroStrategy Web client from a version of MicroStrategy prior to 9.3.1 connects to an Intelligence Server from version 9.3.1 or later, a previous version of the MicroStrategy Web search page is shown. To correct this, either upgrade the MicroStrategy Web client to the latest version, or, in the MicroStrategy Web user preferences, change the default start page to any different page, save the user preferences, change it back to its previous value, and save the user preferences again.

MicroStrategy Mobile Client/Server Interoperability

MicroStrategy Mobile clients from MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise can communicate with Intelligence Server or MicroStrategy Mobile Server from pre-9.2.0 releases. However, full feature support may not be available when the MicroStrategy Mobile client and server are on different versions. To ensure full feature support, upgrade all clients and servers to MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise.

MicroStrategy Mobile Server Analytics Enterprise and later is not interoperable with pre-9.2.0 client releases. That is, MicroStrategy Mobile clients and apps from before version 9.2.0 cannot communicate with Intelligence Server Analytics Enterprise or MicroStrategy Mobile Server Analytics Enterprise.

New Features and Workflow Changes

This section describes some of the changes in MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise and earlier that may affect your users’ workflows.

For a complete list of new products, new features, and updates in MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise, see the MicroStrategy Tech Note “New Features in MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise.”

The default options for VLDB settings may change between releases. You can determine what VLDB default settings have changed by creating a VLDB settings report for your database type before the upgrade, and comparing it to a VLDB settings report created after the upgrade. For instructions on how to create a default VLDB settings report, see the section on Default VLDB settings for specific data sources in the Supplemental Reference for System Administration.

New features and workflow changes in MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise

Some of the new features of MicroStrategy Analytics Enterprise that may affect your users’ workflows include:

• The name of MicroStrategy Desktop has been changed to MicroStrategy Developer.
• The following predefined security roles have been renamed:
  • The Desktop Analyst security role has been changed to Analyst.
  • The Desktop Designer security role has been changed to Developer.
• The following privilege groups have been renamed:
  • The Desktop Analyst privilege group has been changed to Analyst.
  • The Desktop Designer privilege group has been changed to Developer.

New features and workflow changes in MicroStrategy 9.4

Some of the new features of MicroStrategy 9.4 that may affect your users’ workflows include:

• In a document, if you no longer display an attribute that is used to sort data, the data is no longer sorted by that attribute. You can still select that attribute to sort data.
• When importing data from a file, the Select Linking Object panel is now the Select Attribute Form dialog box.
• When creating a new Visual Insight dashboard, the Dataset Objects panel is now opened by default.
• When creating a new Visual Insight dashboard, you are no longer immediately prompted to select a visualization type to add to the dashboard. Instead, a blank visualization is added to the dashboard and displayed.
• The menu options for adding a new metric to a Visual Insight dashboard have been reorganized. For detailed steps to add new metrics to a Visual Insight dashboard, see the MicroStrategy Web Help.
• When defining a threshold condition to display data in a visualization, to create a new metric value band, click the horizontal slider bar in the Thresholds Editor.
• When enabling a visualization to update the data displayed in another visualization, the Enable Filtering on Selection option is selected by default.
• The options to export a Visual Insight dashboard are now available in the Tools menu, under Export.
• The Graph Matrix visualization has been combined with the Graph visualization.
  • The graph styles previously available for the Graph Matrix visualization (Bar, Area, Line, Scatter, Bubble, and Grid) are now available as styles for the Graph visualization.
  • In the Graph panel, the Rows and Y-axis areas have been combined into the Vertical Axis area.
  • In the Graph panel, the Columns and X-axis areas have been combined into the Horizontal Axis area.
• In a Grid visualization, in the Properties panel, the Fit To option is now the Width option.
• Integrity Manager now retrieves all rows of a report or document at once.
• In MicroStrategy Office, many locales no longer require the Microsoft Office Multi-Lingual User Interface (MUI) to correctly display prompt values during internationalization.
• In MicroStrategy Office, if you add multiple outline reports with dynamic grouping to a single Excel worksheet, all those outline reports retain their dynamic grouping. Previously, only the first outline report retained its dynamic grouping.

New features and workflow changes in MicroStrategy 9.3.1

Some of the new features of MicroStrategy 9.3.1 that may affect your users’ workflows include:

• In Windows, the MicroStrategy folder in the Start menu has been replaced by two other folders. The MicroStrategy Products folder contains the following items:All other MicroStrategy applications can be found in the MicroStrategy Tools folder in the Start menu.
  • Command Manager
  • Developer
  • Integrity Manager
  • Object Manager
  • System Manager
  • MicroStrategy Web
• In MicroStrategy Web, the look and feel of the interface has been updated. A new navigational icon bar has been added to the Web interface, with options to create quick dashboards, reports, documents, and more. For detailed instructions on using this new interface, see the MicroStrategy Web Help.
• In MicroStrategy Web, on the toolbar, the floppy disk is now Save for reports and documents. Previously the floppy disk was Save As.
• In MicroStrategy Web, to share a link to an object, in your personal folder, right-click the object and select Share, then click Email Link.
• Visual Insight analyses are now referred to as quick dashboards.
• In Distribution Services, the Use Send Now privilege is no longer required to send a preview of a subscription. The new privilege Use Send A Preview Now is now required to send a preview of a subscription.
• The MicroStrategy SDK is no longer available to be installed with the MicroStrategy release. The most recent version of the MicroStrategy SDK is available as a free download from the MicroStrategy support site https://resource.microstrategy.com/msdz/default.asp.
• Update packages can now be hosted on remote servers. Prior to MicroStrategy 9.3.1, update packages were required to be hosted on the Intelligence Server machine. For information about importing update packages, see the Managing Your Projects chapter of the MicroStrategy System Administration Guide.
• If you are upgrading from MicroStrategy 9.2.1m or earlier, some widgets that were previously created to display on Android tablets may display as grids or graphs on the mobile device. To display these widgets correctly on Android tablets, see Updating Android widgets from MicroStrategy 9.2.1m.

Next: Upgrade Best Practices