New Microstrategy 8 Platform and Product Features

What platforms will be supported with this release?
Microstrategy 8 Intelligence Server is certified to run on Windows 2000, Linux, Sun Solaris IBM AIX, and HP-UX. Microstrategy Web is certified on a combination of operating systems, Windows, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and Linux, and application servers such as Microsoft IIS, IBM Websphere, SunOne, BEA Weblogic and Apache/Tomcat.

How is Microstrategy's metadata unique?
Microstrategy's metadata is unique for three key reasons.

1. Microstrategy uses a single metadata for all BI applications. For example, Microstrategy 8 does not use separate metadatas to support a scorecard application or a reporting application or an analysis application. Because of that, Microstrategy truly delivers one version of the truth because the definition for key business performance metrics is always consistent.
2. Microstrategy's metadata controls every aspect of the BI application including mappings to the database, business model abstraction, objects to build reports, even formatting. Everything in the BI application is encapsulated within an "object" that can be used modularly to create whatever dashboard, report, or analysis is required. This provides a positive network effect in that every developer can efficiently and effectively benefit from each other's work.
3. Microstrategy's metadata is fully object-oriented. That has two important implications.
1. Every object is reusable. That means objects can be used to build other objects. A straightforward example is using two business metrics, M1 and M2, to create another unique business metric, M3.
2. Change control is automatic. If the business definition of M2 changes, everywhere M2 is used, the new definition is automatically applied with no additional steps required. Since M3 is made up of M2, M3 also changes automatically to assure all calculations are consistent and correct.

What type of security does Microstrategy 8 offer?
Microstrategy's security model governs three fundamental areas of every BI application: (1) access to the BI functionality each user gets, (2) the report objects each user can use, and (3) cell-level data each user can access. Microstrategy 8 applies these security controls according to users, user groups and user roles for precise set up of security policies. Microstrategy's approach to security ensures that administrators have centralized control and maximum flexibility in implementing the security required for their users.

1. Privileges control BI functionality by defining the types of actions users may perform in the system such as printing, saving, exporting to Excel, drilling, pivoting, sorting, formatting and creating reports.
2. Access Control Lists control the report objects each user see. This is particularly useful in maximizing report flexibility. A developer could create one report for thousands of users. That report could contain ten business metrics. Each user would run that report and only see the business metrics he or she has access to. There is no need to build thousands of variants of the same report to serve those users.
3. Security filters prevent users from seeing specific data in the database and/or cells in reports. Automatically applied, they ensure that users only see data they are authorized to view.

What type of authentication does Microstrategy 8 use?
Microstrategy 8 authenticates users using any of the following methods:

1. Standard user name and passwords: Stored in the Microstrategy metadata and encrypted at 160-bits
2. Database Pass-through: use user name and password security from the databases. This is very convenient when user communities already exist in database tables.
3. Windows Authentication
4. LDAP or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol systems such as Microsoft Active Directory, Novell or SunOne
5. Integrated with Single Sign-on products such as Netegrity or Oblix

Can Microstrategy 8 automatically generate full BI application documentation?
Yes. The documentation covers every object such as reports, filters, metrics, database mappings, their definitions, where they are used, and their dependencies with other object - every aspect of the BI application. Conveniently, the documentation is in HTML so it can be posted on a website for use by the entire user population. Also, since it is in HTML, users can quickly navigate through it using hypertext links.