MicroStrategy CTO Newsletter Summer 2022

MicroStrategy 11.3.6 with Transactions for Dossier

Dear MicroStrategy Customer,

We’re excited to officially kick off the summer season with the latest release of MicroStrategy — and it’s coming in hot. It all starts with the highly anticipated debut of the transactional grid for Dossier, providing actionable analytics for improved efficiency and enhanced operational workflows. With this feature, organizations can embed transactions into an application workflow and allow users to seamlessly update data at any time.

For those customers still on the fence about moving from documents to Dossier — this is what you’ve been waiting for. Now is the time to shift the focus to future fit analytics and adopt technologies that drive digital transformation for the organization. Leverage the simple, no-code development of custom applications to deliver impact at scale — capitalizing on the combination of creativity and technology. The extensive suite of Dossier design tools allows you to create digital experiences that place data at the center of strategic decision-making. It’s all about an easy-to-use solution that extends the power of analytics to all users and even engages new segments of internal users. Now we’re not saying this transformation is easy, but Dossier is the first step in fostering a data-driven culture to unlock new business value — sometimes strategy must start with change.

Alongside the impressive set of new product features, this release focused on another key pillar of our MicroStrategy story for the year: accessibility. Over the last few quarters, our teams have been working to provide a more accessible platform for all our users. Users can now engage and interact with Dossier content with support for screen readers and keyboard navigation — ensuring all users have access to the data that they need. We will continue to invest in the accessibility mission.

We’re proud to announce that MicroStrategy 11.3.6 is now available on MicroStrategy Cloud, as well as for download to on-prem environments.

So, what is new for summer 2022?

We’re planning to launch MicroStrategy Cloud for Government in 2022 Q3.

Equipped with FedRAMP authorization, this new cloud offering empowers government agencies to move to a Cloud Smart strategy and adopt the modern application mindset. Make sure to stay tuned for more information about the release in the next few weeks, including the MicroWorld for Government event that’s tentatively planned for this fall— keynote speakers and innovative sessions are already in the works.

And now, let’s get into the feature highlights and details of the release:

Dossiers

• The new transactional grid provides a simple workflow for authors to configure transactions based on specific data sources. End users can then add, edit, or remove data directly from the data source from MicroStrategy Library. Our customers use transactional services for many different use cases — from nurses updating patient vitals via a tablet to flight attendants tracking passenger purchases, transactions infuse new data into the overall ecosystem.
• View improved performance for undo actions in Library consumption, with undo action performance proving to be 30% faster for end users. Differences in data volume and Dossier design may impact this number, but generally end users will have an enhanced experience.
• Preview Feature: With the new age of reports, the team took this feature one step further. Use all-new authoring functionality added to the Workstation experience, including support for prompts, page-by, drilling, and more. Reports are also now available for end users to view in MicroStrategy Library.

Please note that users must be on MicroStrategy Library or MicroStrategy Workstation to access all new features starting with this release. Moving forward, new features will no longer be available in MicroStrategy Web. This is to ensure an optimized analytics experience with high performance.

Accessibility

Accessibility isn’t one feature or a collection of features — it’s at the core of our product mission. MicroStrategy is committed to full product accessibility, empowering all our global customers to interact with data. Over the past few quarters, MicroStrategy has made many impressive strides forward in order to adhere to WCAG 2.0 Level AA standards. We’ve previously introduced a revamped grid built with one of the most accessible grid frameworks available and dedicated keyboard shortcuts for accessible alternative mechanisms — and we didn’t stop there.

New improvements to accessibility include:

• Seamlessly navigate an application and visualizations across pages with the use of screen readers and keyboards that are now fully supported for MicroStrategy Library Web and Library Desktop (the MicroStrategy Application).
• Accessible keyboard focus indicators can be viewed across all Dossiers.
• Dossier and Library now provide accessible contextual linking from graphs and other visualizations for enhanced insights, right from the Show Data dialog.
• Enable high contrast with additional OS-level accessibility settings for improved legibility.

Applications

With continued investment in the low-code, no-code custom application framework, each new app feature is strategically built to add value to the overall design process. With this release, we’ve added customization settings and enhanced viewing options for end users:

• Administrators or application architects can now define a set of color palettes to be available per application, including defining the application’s default color palette to apply to content automatically when viewing in the application. This new feature allows for the reusability of content across applications. For example, an OEM may use the same Dossier template for multiple customers but apply different colors for each customer based on app definition.
• Switch between app workspaces based on tasks. End users in MicroStrategy Library Web can now view the list of available applications that they have access to from the Account menu.
• When subscribing to specific Dossiers in Library, leverage an expanded range selection to specify chapter and page level options for Excel or PDF.
• Preview Feature: Go behind the scenes to interact with the new feature that allows you to configure the logo of the application. Using the Application editor, administrators or application architects can continue to brand the experience of their deployments.

Mobile

Mobile analytics is critical across multiple industries and use cases, including retail and healthcare. With multiple customer requests, this release includes features to keep the pace in the modern world:

• The new transactional grid is fully supported by Library iOS and Library Android.
• Library Android now supports barcode scanning. Users can now automatically execute a Dossier or document after scanning a barcode or multiple barcodes — seamlessly answering prompts and filtering down the data to focus on relevant insights.
• With Library Mobile SDK, developers can now configure a specific application URL as an entry point. This is helpful to ensure end users have the correct home screen configured.

Workstation and Administration

• Easily create and edit fully customized drill paths with Drill Maps in Workstation. These drill paths are available to end users that drill down when viewing a report. Select whether to keep the default drill paths or override the defaults with customization based on the desired data experience for end users.
• Add new custom subtotals or edit existing to define special aggregation rules. Leverage specific function types (financial functions, math functions, logical operators) or enter formulas for customization.
• Create Incremental Refresh Reports directly in Workstation to define how the data is updated on Intelligent Cubes, all with an improved user experience.
• Preview Feature: View revamped workflows for object migration. Select to move project-related objects, administration objects, or merge entire projects together.

Data Gateways

Data is at the center of it all. To provide the highest performance, we continue to enhance functionality and ensure all Platinum and Diamond gateways have the latest updates:

• Certification for Yellowbrick 5.x.
• OOTB Driver Updates for: Big Query ODBC Driver, Big Query JDBC Driver, Spark ODBC Driver, Spark JDBC Driver.1045, and Impala ODBC Driver.
• Support for the Delta Lake format via Cloud Storage Connector for ADLS2, Amazon S3, and Google Cloud Storage.
• Delivered push down for Case and CaseV functions for Azure Synapse and Db2.
• Secure transaction certification for Yellowbrick and SingleStore.
• Ability to access cross-account buckets in S3.

To review the full list of features in the latest release, please visit the What’s New section of the MicroStrategy Readme. If you’re looking for all critical updates from our Support team, make sure to check out the Support Report newsletter.

The Product Management team will be going LIVE for an all-new session of MicroStrategy Connect on June 30, 2022 at 11:00 AM EDT — watch the session for the exclusive release recap.

From the MicroStrategy team, we thank you for your continued partnership. The most rewarding part of building products is hearing how customers have used new functionality to spark innovative projects and shape the future of analytics at organizations across the globe.

Your product success is our product success.

Best regards,

Tim Lang

Chief Technology Officer