A Comparison White Paper by MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy 9 vs. Tableau 7

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Phone: 1.888.537.8135 Fax: 703.848.8610 E-mail: info@microstrategy.com http://www.microstrategy.com
I. Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................ 4
II. Comparison of MicroStrategy 9 and Tableau 7 on the Key BI Capabilities .................................... 5
1. Delivering More BI with Less IT Effort - MicroStrategy Delivers the Lowest TCO .............................. 7
2. All User Needs through a Single Platform ..................................................................................... 11
3. Self-Service Through a Fast and Intuitive Web Interface ................................................................ 15
4. High Performance at Any Scale .................................................................................................... 18
5. Quick to Implement and Deploy, Easy to Maintain and Administer ............................................... 22
6. Highly Interactive and Flexible Mobile Intelligence ........................................................................ 26
7. Deep Insight through Superior Analytics ...................................................................................... 29
8. Flexible Technology for Departmental to Enterprise BI .................................................................. 31
III. MicroStrategy A Market Proven, Industrial-Strength Technology ............................................. 33
MicroStrategy 9 vs. Tableau 7
4
I. Executive Summary
In the business intelligence (BI) marketplace, MicroStrategy competes with a number of vendors, including Tableau
Software. At frst glance, it would seem that companies can use either MicroStrategy 9 or Tableau 7 to support
their visualization, reporting and analysis needs. However, throughout the implementation and maintenance of BI
applications, companies are realizing signifcant differences in the BI capabilities between MicroStrategy and less
robust BI technologies, such as Tableau.
MicroStrategy 9 builds on MicroStrategys unique strengths at the high-end of BI to extend the boundaries of
performance, scalability, reliability, and maintainability of enterprise BI. At the same time, MicroStrategy 9 brings
quick-to-deploy BI technology easily within reach of smaller departmental BI initiatives through features such as
multisource data access, In-memory ROLAP, Data Import, and Visual Insight. With MicroStrategy, business can
enjoy the best of both the worlds, i.e. all the benefts of a robust BI platform, while providing exceptional fexibility
and nimbleness to the business users for their self-service needs. Tableau, on the other hand, is a subject-oriented
analysis tool and does not provide a robust, enterprise-grade BI platform. Its capabilities are limited to ad-hoc
analysis and basic dashboard development from simple datasets.
As user and business requirements have become more complex, IT budgets nonetheless have come under
increasing pressure. Organizations need to deliver BI solutions in light of expanding user requirements, increasing
amounts of data, and differing data sources with a minimal amount of IT resources. BI tools, like Tableau,
face signifcant challenges in managing and maintaining a growing BI deployment as they lack object-oriented
development, centralized metadata repository, robust administration, and centralized security management.
Tableaus lack of these capabilities results in redundant development and maintenance efforts and higher costs. In
contrast, MicroStrategys object-oriented development paradigm, and robust BI platform capabilities enable easy
development and maintenance of BI applications with minimum IT efforts and costs.
For nearly 20 years, MicroStrategy customers have gained an edge over their competitors with fast, agile analysis
using MicroStrategys sophisticated technology. Companies and industry analysts widely recognize MicroStrategy for
its administration-friendly architecture, robust security, self-service zero-footprint Web interface, innovative mobile
application platform, and proven user and data scalability.
This document discusses in detail the key differences between MicroStrategy 9 and Tableau 7.
5
II. Comparison of MicroStrategy 9 and Tableau 7 on the Key
BI Capabilities
Business intelligence has the power to provide performance feedback and visibility to all people in an organization,
thus enabling businesses to make better decisions every day. However, not all BI technologies deliver on this
promise, falling short on a number of key capabilities demanded of enterprise BI applications. A complete and
effcient BI platform must provide organizations with the following key capabilities:
Key BI Capabilities
1. Delivering More BI with Less IT Effort ...................................................................................................... pg.7
MicroStrategy technology requires far fewer IT personnel for a given amount of BI users because its reusable
metadata is easier to maintain requiring less redundancy, because end users have more self-service capabilities
that offoad work from the IT staff, and because it provides a comprehensive suite of administrative tools
requiring less IT administrators. Tableau provides limited metadata reusability across the entire BI platform.
As a result, it requires redundant development and maintenance efforts. Tableau administrators have fewer
administration tools that allow them effciently manage the BI applications, thus requiring more administrators
per number of end users.
2. All User Needs through a Single Platform ................................................................................................pg.11
MicroStrategy users can access any style of BI via a unifed and home grown BI platform. MicroStrategy users get
a single version of the truth through interactive Web, Microsoft Offce, and mobile device interfaces. Tableau
users are limited in the breadth of BI styles (no enterprise reporting, limited alerting and proactive notifcation,
limited predictive analysis capabilities, etc.) that they can accomplish. Tableau users typically must recreate
metadata with each report, thus promoting multiple versions of the truth."
3. Self-Service Through a Fast and Intuitive Web Interface.........................................................................pg.15
To enhance usability, the MicroStrategy Web interface adopts many familiar paradigms including, ribbon
toolbars, accordion controls, control-click multi-select capability, and context-sensitive right-click actions.
MicroStrategys next-generation of advanced self-service functionality is designed to provide more control to
business users. The MicroStrategy advanced self-service interface provides incredible speed-of-interactivity,
stunning visualizations, drag-and-drop manipulations, and instant results thus allowing business users to rapidly
go from data to decisions. Tableau provides limited capabilities through its Web interface. Tableau users can only
perform basic fltering, sorting, and exporting through the Web and cannot create new visualizations or modify
existing visualizations from the Web interface. As a result end users are limited in their abilities to self-serve.
4. High Performance at Any Scale ................................................................................................................ pg.18
MicroStrategys high performance at any scale is possible given its In-memory ROLAP architecture, which
leverages the database for much of its processing. Data joins and analytic calculations are processed in the
database whenever possible. MicroStrategys unique multi-pass approach provides the fexibility to answer any
analytical question in the most optimal manner. Tableau supports 64-bit for data loading but does not support
64-bit processing for data rendering. As a result, Tableau cannot take full advantage of 64-bit hardware,
limiting its performance and scalability. Tableau does not offer scalable and high performing in-memory ROLAP
architecture. As a result, Tableau deployments are typically departmental with low data volumes and limited
number of users.
6
5. Quick to Implement and Deploy, Easy to Maintain and Administer ...............................................................pg.22
MicroStrategy provides organizations a platform that is quick to implement and deploy as well as easy to maintain
and administer. MicroStrategys single code base offers the unique advantage of reusable business logic across
the entire platform. MicroStrategys single BI server provides effcient, centralized administration for IT and fewer
moving parts which translate into less downtime. Tableau is quick to implement because it does not require
creating a metadata layer. However, lack of a common reusable metadata layer creates a maintenance challenge
as changes to common business logic are not automatically propagated to the entire BI deployment and Tableau
developers are typically forced to continually and manually synchronize metric defnitions across the entire
deployment. Lack of a common semantic layer also promotes multiple versions of the truth and can lead to a
spreadmart problem.
6. Highly Interactive and Flexible Mobile Intelligence ................................................................................pg.26
MicroStrategy Mobile extends BI capabilities on mobile devices well beyond traditional grid and graph reports
and provides exceptional fexibility for creating purpose-built, workfow-driven mobile applications. MicroStrategy
Mobile apps are built using a metadata driven, point-and-click development paradigm, fully utilizing the
MicroStrategy BI platform infrastructure, security, and reusable metadata components. As a result, mobile
applications are faster and easier to create, easier to maintain, and provide the administration effciencies needed
to deploy to hundreds of thousands of users while providing the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Tableau
does not follow an object-oriented development paradigm and provides minimum object reusability. As a result,
development and maintenance of mobile applications becomes more challenging. Tableau Mobile provides little
or no fexibility to create workfow driven apps and is used primarily for viewing the existing BI content on the
iPad

. Functionality like delivering multiple forms of information through the app and transaction capability is not
provided, limiting the ability of Tableau to create rich mobile applications for closed loop analysis.
7. Deep Insight through Superior Analytics .................................................................................................pg.29
The MicroStrategy BI platform provides an extensive set of data manipulation and analytic options to allow the
user to delve deeply into a report to identify and discover important trends and patterns in the data. MicroStrategy
users can drill anywhere in the entire data warehouse for boundary-free investigative analysis. MicroStrategy
report designers and analysts can view and embed predictive analytics in reports and then distribute them to all
relevant decision makers and stakeholders. Tableau provides capabilities for performing basic statistical analysis
but does not provide advanced predictive analysis capabilities.
8. Flexible Technology for Departmental to Enterprise BI ......................................................................... pg.31
MicroStrategys metadata reusability and life cycle management tools, such as MicroStrategy Object Manager
enable departments to incrementally migrate their business logic into a consolidated enterprise BI environment.
Tableau does not have a tool equivalent to Object Manager to aid in consolidating and reconciling disparate
departmental BI applications into an enterprise-wide BI application.
7
1
IDC. Demonstrating Business Value: Selling to Your C-Level Executives.
1. DELIVERING MORE BI WITH LESS IT EFFORT - MICROSTRATEGY DELIVERS THE LOWEST TCO
With IT budgets under increasing scrutiny and business requirements becoming more complex, todays
organizations need to critically examine BI costs. The costs of BI extend beyond the initial acquisition. An IDC study,
Demonstrating Business Value: Selling to Your C-Level Executives, concludes, Because the single largest factor
affecting TCO is staffng cost, IT initiatives that can reduce IT labor costs are likely to fnd greater acceptance among
fnancial decision makers, and initiatives that enable IT consolidation or automation can signifcantly reduce TCO
across the IT infrastructure. Figure 1 shows that over three years, IT staffng constitutes between 60 and 71% of BI
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership is Dominated by IT Personnel Costs
Three-Year Total Cost of Ownership Breakdown
Staffing (60%)
Downtime User
Productivity
(15%)
IT Staff Training
(8%)
Server Hardware
(7%)
Software (7%)
Outsourced Costs
(3%)
Source: IDC 2007.
Figure 1: Staffng Costs Consume a Majority of Three-Year Software Lifecycle Costs
Customers and leading industry analysts alike recognize MicroStrategys ability to deliver BI to more users and a
great amount of data with fewer IT staff than other BI vendors. Many MicroStrategy customers have expanded their
BI deployments while saving millions of dollars a year in staffng costs by switching from non-MicroStrategy BI tools
to MicroStrategys effcient and scalable self-service BI platform. To save costs and ensure successful BI solutions,
decision makers must evaluate the key BI capabilities that reduce IT efforts and make the BI platform easier to
implement, deploy, maintain, and administer.

8
MicroStrategy Ranked Highest for Administration Effciency
0.4 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.4 0.8 1.0 1.2 2.2 0.6
arplan
Bissantz
Board
Cubeware
IBM Cognos Analysis
IBM Cognos Reporting
IBM Cognos TM1
Information Builders
Infor PM
Jedox PALO
Microsoft SSAS
Microsoft SSRS
MicroStrategy
MIK
Oracle BIEE
Oracle Hyperion
Pentaho
QlikTech
SAP BO Webl
SAP BO Deskl
SAP BW/ BEx Suite
SAS
TARGIT
1.02
1.18
1.72
N/A
N/A
1.96
2.40
N/A
2.16
N/A
1.51
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
1.96
N/A
N/A
MicroStrategy Ranked #1 for Administration Efficiency
0.55
0.39
0.71
0.59

Source: The BI Survey 9 (2010) This chart provides a KPI score for the deployed seats per administrator head. The KPI is calculated so
that higher administration costs lead to a lower KPI and vice versa.
Figure 2: MicroStrategy Technology is Recognized for its Ability to Support Many More Users for Each IT Administrator
MicroStrategy technology requires far fewer IT personnel for a given amount of BI users because its metadata is
inherently easier to maintain and because end users have more self-service capabilities that offoad work from the
IT staff.

We evaluated several leading BI products and, using a total cost of ownership model, determined
that MicroStrategy had the best combination of ease-of-use, time-to-market, successful retail
implementations, and robust analytical capabilities.

IT Senior Coordinator of Purchasing, Private Label and Reporting, Whole Foods Market
The following table lists out key capabilities in which the MicroStrategy 9 platform helps organizations reduce costs
when designing, deploying, administering and maintaining BI applications.
9
KEY COST REDUCING
CAPABILITY
MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
M
i
n
i
m
i
z
i
n
g

D
e
s
i
g
n

E
f
f
o
r
t
Dynamic Report
Personalization
YES
MicroStrategy has very robust Prompting
engine. End users can dynamically author
reports at run time by selecting attributes,
metrics, metric levels, templates, flters,
and even hierarchies. This greatly reduces
report design dependency on IT and the
number of reports for IT to maintain.
NO
Prompting is not supported by Tableau.
Only basic element list prompts can
be simulated by means of flters.
Object prompts (like column and flter
prompting), hierarchy prompts, and
metric level prompts are not supported.
This results in creating and publishing
more views of reports than necessary.
Automatic Multi-source
Drill Anywhere
YES
Business users can automatically drill
anywhere to any data source without IT
hard coding.
LIMITED
Tableau does not support automatic drill-
anywhere capabilities. Drilling is available
automatically only on time dimensions.
Formatting over the
Web
YES
Easy What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get
(WYSIWYG) formatting allows business
users to format reports at runtime
without IT support.
NO
WYSIWYG design or modifcation is
not supported over the Web. Only
basic actions like fltering, sorting, and
exporting can be performed from the
Web interface.
One Repository of
Reusable Business Logic
YES
Report developers can reuse all existing
business logic across the entire platform
rather than spending time recreating
business logic.
LIMITED
Tableau lacks a reusable semantic layer.
The lack of object reusability makes the
BI environment more diffcult to maintain,
and increases the risk of having multiple
versions of the truth.
Visual Analysis for Rapid
Decision Making
YES
MicroStrategy Visual Insight allows
business users to intuitively visualize, flter,
and drill into their data. The drag-and-
drop, WYSIWYG interface allows business
users to make data driven decision quickly
and without any IT involvement.
YES
Visual analysis can be performed but
requires a thick client. End users using
the Web interface for performing analysis
are restricted to fltering, sorting, and
exporting.
M
i
n
i
m
i
z
i
n
g

D
e
p
l
o
y
m
e
n
t

E
f
f
o
r
t
One Report Design
Automatically Deploys
to Any Interface
YES
The same report design is automatically
optimized for interacting through all
interfaces including Web browsers, mobile
devices, and Microsoft Offce; and formats
including PDF, Flash, and HTML.
LIMITED
Tableau provides limited integration
with Microsoft Offce productivity tools.
Exporting interactive analysis to Flash is
not supported.
Browser Agnostic Zero-
footprint Web
YES
Eliminates client installation costs and
ensures application is automatically updated.
Provides secure access for any browser
without IT effort or reliance on ActiveX
downloads or IE Active X dependence.
LIMITED
Tableau supports a zero footprint Web
interface. However, the capabilities
provided by the Tableau Web interface
are very limited.
Easy to Customize and
Upgrade
YES
Upgradable plug-ins instantly customize to
corporate look and feel without coding effort.
Customizations are managed in a central
location and can be upgraded with
minimal IT effort.
LIMITED
Tableau provides very limited capabilities to
perform customizations.
Automated Deployment
YES
Automated life cycle management tool
synchronizes objects across development,
test, and production environments thus
greatly reducing manual work associated
with BI deployments.
NO
Tableau does not provide automated life
cycle management tools.
10
KEY COST REDUCING
CAPABILITY
MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
M
i
n
i
m
i
z
i
n
g

D
e
p
l
o
y
m
e
n
t

E
f
f
o
r
t
Data Import from the
Web Interface
YES
MicroStrategy Data Import functionality is
for business users and provides the ability
to easily import data from local fles or
relational databases and quickly converts
them into dashboards or visualizations
without any IT involvement.
NO
Tableau does not provide Web-based
data import functionality. As a result,
Tableau end users will have to either
depend on the IT for creating and
uploading analysis to the Tableau server
or install the Tableau desktop thick client
for accessing data and creating analysis
on their own.
M
i
n
i
m
i
z
i
n
g

A
d
m
i
n
i
s
t
r
a
t
i
o
n

E
f
f
o
r
t
Single Server
YES
A centralized server dramatically reduces
administrative effort and complexity.
LIMITED
Tableaus server supports only creating
analysis and visualizations. Tableau does
not support all styles of BI through its server.
Single Point of
Administration
YES
Administrators need to create users and
security settings once and these settings
apply to the entire MicroStrategy platform
without requiring duplicate IT efforts.
NO
Security has to be defned redundantly for
each Tableau workbook and there is no
way to centrally apply security across the
entire Tableau deployment, resulting in
redundant administration efforts.
Out-of-the-Box System-
wide Monitoring
YES
Prebuilt system performance dashboards
allow the administrator to immediately
analyze system usage data down to the
details and to easily optimize resources.
Automatically logs object change history
without requiring IT staff efforts, easing
auditing process.
LIMITED
Tableau provides the capabilities to
log and monitor activity on the server.
However, it does not provide prebuilt
system performance dashboards and
reports that allow the administrators to
analyze system usage data down to the
details and to easily optimize resources.
Automatic change management is not
supported out-of-the-box.
Automated Scripting
Control
YES
Reduces repetitive and time consuming
administrative tasks through automated
command line scripts.
NO
Tableau does not provide a scripting
interface to automate repetitive
administration task. As a result,
administration workload increases.
M
i
n
i
m
i
z
i
n
g

M
a
i
n
t
e
n
a
n
c
e

E
f
f
o
r
t
Automated Report and
Data Integrity Checking
YES
MicroStrategy administrators can uncover
inconsistencies or errors before business
users see them while reducing 98% of
manual regression testing efforts.
NO
Tableau does not provide automated
regression testing tools to detect
report and data discrepancies. Tableau
developers have to manually ensure
report and data consistency.
Highly Reusable Business
Metadata
YES
IT staff have to maintain only one
business metadata object in one
place, and this one defnition is reused
across the entire platform to reduce IT
maintenance efforts.
NO
Tableau provides very limited metadata
reusability. This forces report developers
to spend more time redundantly creating
report objects.
Scalable In-Memory
ROLAP Architecture
YES
MicroStrategy customers can instantly
leverage multiple types of data assets
without moving data.
NO
Tableau does not have an scalable in-
memory ROLAP architecture.
Automatic Change
Management
YES
MicroStrategys unifed platform and object-
oriented development method ensure
that a change is propagated to all related
objects, ensuring one version of the truth
with minimal IT maintenance effort.
NO
Tableaus lack of a common reusable
metadata layer creates a maintenance
challenge as changes to common
business logic are not automatically
propagated to the entire BI deployment.
Tableau developers are typically forced to
continually and manually synchronize metric
defnitions across the entire deployment.
11
2. ALL USER NEEDS THROUGH A SINGLE PLATFORM
The ideal architecture for business intelligence is the one that provides organizations with a single and cohesive
model of the business that can be automatically displayed through any user interface. MicroStrategy users have
the option to access a single version of the truth through interactive Web, Microsoft Offce, and mobile device
interfaces. MicroStrategy 9 includes a newly re-engineered Web user interface that is designed to be faster, more
powerful, and more personalized than ever before. The MicroStrategy 9 Web architecture boasts a wide range of
performance-enhancing changes that make the user interface interactive and instantly responsive to user requests.
Five Styles of Business Intelligence Through a Single Platform
Figure 3: Users Can Seamlessly Traverse All Styles of BI from a Unifed Platform and a Single Interface

MicroStrategys long history and devotion to producing world-class business intelligence technology provided
us with extreme confdence that we are making the right decision for our casino partners. MicroStrategys
interactive dashboards with advanced data visualizations will allow our clients to view complex data in
an easily understood and graphically appealing manner to improve decision-making. In addition, we look
forward to implementing MicroStrategys Mobile BI on the BlackBerry

, iPhone

, and iPad

, which will give

our customers far greater fexibility in business intelligence than is currently available today.

President, Aristocrat Technologies
Scorecards&
Dashboards
Enterprise
Repor4ng
OLAPAnalysis&
VisualExplora4on
DataMining&
Predic4veAnalysis
MobileApps&
Aler4ng
AdHocAnalysis
Predic4veAnalysis
DataMining
VisualExplora4on
Slice&DiceInves4ga4veAnalysis
RootCauseDetermina4on
PageperfectOpera4onalRepor4ng
PixelperfectBusinessRepor4ng
PrintperfectStatements&Invoices
Opera4onalDashboards
DynamicScorecards
MetricsManagement
MobileApplica4ons
MassiveInforma4onDistribu4on
iPad,iPhone,BlackBerry,email
Excep4onbasedAlerts
12
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Dynamic Enterprise Dashboards
Dashboards integrated with
industrial-strength BI platform
Fast WYSIWYG Pixel Perfect
design
Single design environment
Automatically drill anywhere in any
data source from the dashboard
Native parallel Flash and DHTML
visualizations
Multiple layers of analysis
Multi-layout dashboards
Automatic multi-panel fltering
Dashboard templates reduce
design time
Dashboard output caching in
HTML, PDF, Excel, and Flash for
instantaneous response
YES
Dashboards are created using reports
and objects from MicroStrategys single
metadata. Intelligence Server provides its
sophisticated processing, security, caching,
and analytical capabilities.
Users design dashboards from
MicroStrategys single Web interface
using already familiar design paradigm.
Dashboards are created in a Pixel Perfect,
zero-footprint Web interface, WYSIWYG
and freeform layout.
MicroStrategy dashboards provide high
interactivity via selector controls that allow
users to dynamically apply flters to all
dashboard components and to synchronize
data across multiple analytical layers of
information. Users can automatically drill
throughout the full depth and breadth
of the data warehouse to obtain more
detailed information or view related
information. MicroStrategy dashboards
provide multipanel and multi-tab layers
for various views of data. Multiple
dashboards can also be assembled into
a single dashboard book. MicroStrategy
9 dashboard templates provide reusable
starting points with sophisticated
formatting that can make any business
user a dashboard designer. Pre-calculated
dashboards are cached for instant viewing
in HTML, PDF, Excel, and Flash.
LIMITED
Tableau dashboards cannot be created
over the Web and requires a thick client for
development. Dashboards do not support
Pixel Perfect positioning. This creates
a development challenge and leads to
suboptimal utilization of screen real estate.
Tableau desktop lets users automatically
drill up and down within the time
dimension. However, drill hierarchies have
to be pre-defned for other dimensions.
Drilling can only be performed up or down
within the same hierarchy. It is not possible
to drill from one hierarchy to another.
Exporting Tableau dashboard to Flash
for interactive offine analysis is not
possible. In order to view a dashboard
user will either require the desktop client
or will have to log into the Tableau Web.
Sending interactive dashboards as an email
attachment is also not supported.
Tableau dashboards support multiple tabs.
However, multiple layers of analysis within
the same tab is not supported, resulting
in suboptimal utilization of dashboard
real estate. Dashboard templates are not
present to reduce dashboard development
time and efforts.
Rapid Comprehension of Data
Through Advanced Visualizations
Out-of-the-box library of advanced
visualizations
Automatic drilling from
visualizations
Easy to create and deploy
customized widgets
Flexible properties support different
types of data comparisons
Extensible library of visualizations
and widgets created by 3rd parties
Customizable advanced
visualizations and widgets
YES
MicroStrategy 9 provides an out-of-thebox
library of advanced visualizations and
widgets that enhance the understanding
of complex data and highlight patterns
and trends.
MicroStrategy provides a library of
advanced visualizations, including Bullet
Graphs, Micro Charts, Interactive Heat
Maps, Interactive Bubble Charts, Grid
of Graphs, Bubbles Grid, RSS, Fish Eye,
Media, Cloud, Time Slider, and Stack Area
Charts. All visualizations have drilling
capabilities and enable users to select data
elements that flter out other areas of the
dashboard. Each MicroStrategy widget
has fexible capabilities and properties
that enable users to immediately identify
or further investigate trends or anomalies
in the data. For example, the Heat Map
widget incorporates OLAP technology
that enables users to flter data based on
numeric values.
MicroStrategy customers can extend
the advanced visualizations library
by importing 3rd party visualizations.
Advanced dashboard designers can edit
or create their own visualizations or
widgets. The widgets are built using the
power of Adobe Flash and are part of
MicroStrategys single platform.
LIMITED
Tableau provide limited out-of-the-box
library of advanced visualizations. Tableau
does not provide Gauges, Waterfall
widgets, Funnel Graphs, RSS Readers,
Media, Data Clouds, Time Series
Sliders (they have very basic time series
visualization), Interactive Stacked Graphs,
and Weighted List Viewers.
Tableau provides limited selector controls.
Also, nesting of selectors is not supported.
Tableau lacks Fish Eye Selector, Date
Selectors, Radio Buttons, Button Bars, and
Link Bars.
Tableau does not allow extending or
importing visualizations.

13
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Robust Enterprise Reporting
Pixel Perfect absolute positioning
OLAP-enabled grids and graphs
Horizontal and vertical display of
data
Desktop publishing formatting
Advanced Export to Excel, Word,
PowerPoint, or PDF
High quality printing
Templates for rapid design
YES
MicroStrategy offers comprehensive
report styles for banded reports. These
documents are highly interactive, providing
in-place OLAP analysis through pivoting,
drilling, and Excel-like formatting toolbars.
Highly formatted documents are built
using common desktop publishing
paradigms such as rulers and Pixel Perfect
positioning, all in a zero-footprint Web.
MicroStrategys export to PDF capabilities
support advanced PDF features such as
table of contents and watermarks. Export
to Excel supports export of multiple
document layouts to multiple Excel
worksheets.
Print-perfect reports can be printed
exactly as seen to any network printer.
MicroStrategy documents can be printed
horizontally or vertically. Users can
dynamically change the page layout, apply
ft-to-page functionality, and customize
headers and footers for any report.
MicroStrategy provides out-of-the-box
templates and the ability to create custom
templates in order to decrease design time.
These templates can be saved and shared
across multiple projects.
NO
Tableau does not provide Enterprise
Reporting capabilities and is limited to only
ad-hoc visual analysis of data and basic
dashboard development. Creating highly
formatted, pixel perfect reports, is not
supported.
Information Delivery and
Proactive Notifcation
Ability to self-subscribe and
subscribe others to report deliveries
Alerting and thresholds
Wide range of output types: Web,
e-mail, print, fax, wireless, and fle
server
Report bursting
Portal integration, with support for
portal servers including: Microsoft
SharePoint, SAP NetWeaver Portal,
Oracle WebLogic, and WebSphere
YES
Users can subscribe themselves and
other users to personalized reports and
alerts. Report deliveries can be triggered
by dynamic events, exception thresholds,
or time schedules. Personalized content
can be delivered via portal, print, email,
wireless, or fle servers.
MicroStrategys platform leverages highly
scalable technology that slices a single
report and dynamically bursts personalized
information to the right users. Reusing
a single report across hundreds of users
saves processing resources.
Portal integration is available out-of-the-
box, with support for portal servers such
as Microsoft SharePoint, SAP NetWeaver
Portal, Oracle WebLogic, and WebSphere.
Portlet-to-portlet communication is also
available out-of-the-box, making it easier
to inject BI into a portal.
NO
Tableau does not support native report
bursting features and does not provide the
ability to self-subscribe, or subscribe others
to personalized reports or alerts based on
dynamic events, exception thresholds, or
time schedules.
Tableau Server does not provide the
capabilities to send alerts to end users via
mail or mobile devices when a threshold
condition is met or a KPI exception
happens.
14
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Flexible and Powerful OLAP
Interactivity
Drill anywhere fosters investigative
analysis
Derived elements and derived
metrics for on-the-fy calculations
and groupings
View flters for quick data fltering
On the fy creation of derived
elements, custom groups, subtotals,
etc.
Built-in fnancial and statistical
functions
YES
The MicroStrategy BI platform provides an
extensive set of data manipulation options
to allow the user to delve deeply into a
report to identify and discover important
trends and patterns in the data. Users can
drill anywhere in the entire data warehouse
for boundary-free investigative analysis.
New derived metrics, derived attribute
element groups, flters, and subtotals
can be created on-the-fy using existing
metrics and attributes in the report. This
functionality makes it possible for users
to perform new calculations, custom
groupings, and fltering directly on the
report at the speed of thought.
MicroStrategys analytical engine provides
hundreds of built-in fnancial, statistical,
and mathematical functions.
LIMITED
Tableau does not support automatic
drill-anywhere functionality. Drilling is
automatically enabled only on the time
dimension. In order to create drill paths
Tableau developers have to predefne
hierarchies using the desktop interface. The
pre-defned hierarchies only allow drilling
up and down within the same hierarchy.
Users cannot drill from one hierarchy to
another.
Tableau does not recommend modeling
the entire database at once as it is a
subject-oriented analysis tool, i.e. a tool
for performing analysis on only the subject
at hand. Because of this reason, there are
typically 100s of small datasets foating
across the tableau deployment. Drill
hierarchies have to be individually defned
and maintained for each of these datasets
as the hierarchies are not common across
the entire deployment. This also means
that users are restricted to performing
analysis within a given dataset and cannot
seamlessly drill into the entire breadth and
depth of the corporate data, limiting their
investigative analysis capabilities.
New objects like new metrics, derived
metrics, subtotals, or new reports cannot
be created from the Tableau Web interface,
and as such, the analysis capability of end
users is signifcantly constrained.
Seamless Microsoft Offce
Integration
All Offce products supported (Excel,
PowerPoint, Word, Outlook)
Leverage all BI reports and
reporting objects
Full new report creation
Ability to save logic created in Excel
back to enterprise metadata
Persistent and interchangeable
formatting across Offce and Web
Server based confguration for
client settings, user, host, and IP
address settings
YES
MicroStrategy delivers the complete
reporting and analysis environment to
Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and
Outlook users. MicroStrategy Offce
applications are linked to MicroStrategy
security and administration, ensuring
100% data consistency across the
enterprise. Users are able to access existing
reports or create new ones from within
Microsoft Offce applications. Changes
made through Microsoft Offce are
immediately refected across MicroStrategy
Offce and Web interfaces and can
be saved to the enterprise business
logic metadata layer. Microsoft Offce
formatting changes are preserved after
automatic data updates.
The Web administrator can set client side
settings and security. Users can change
their passwords through the familiar
Microsoft Offce interface.
LIMITED
Tableau provides the ability to export data
to Excel. However, it does not support
exporting the data in its original format.
Graphs and charts can be exported as
images.
Tableau users cannot access existing
reports or create new reports from within
the Microsoft Offce applications and
cannot save logic and formatting created
in Excel back to the Tableau metadata.
15
3. SELF-SERVICE THROUGH A FAST AND INTUITIVE WEB INTERFACE
MicroStrategy 9 provides capabilities for business personnel to create their own ad hoc report designs easily from
their Web browser. Using drag-and-drop actions through the MicroStrategy 9 Web interface, any business person can
assemble virtually any report by adding attributes and metrics to a simple report template without the need to know
any technical details about the data or the underlying databases. With MicroStrategy 9, business users also have the
ability to interactively build analysis with dozens of visualization options. To enhance usability, the MicroStrategy 9
Web user interface adopts many familiar Microsoft paradigms, including ribbon toolbars, accordion controls, control-
click multi-select capability, and context-sensitive right-click actions.
MicroStrategy Provides End Users with a Fast and Intuitive User Experience
Figure 4: Design and Format a MicroStrategy Report Using a Fast and Intuitive User Interface
MicroStrategys next-generation of advanced self-service functionality is designed to provide more control to business
users. Business users can easily import their personal or corporate data directly from the MicroStrategy Web interface
and quickly convert the raw data into insightful visual analyses, reports, or dashboards. The MicroStrategy Visual
Insight interface provides incredible speed-of-interactivity, stunning visualizations, drag-and-drop manipulations, and
instant results thus allowing business users to rapidly go from data to decisions.

We were impressed with MicroStrategys self-service architecture, ease-of-use, highly visual dashboards,
and mobile reporting that allows us to put the analytics and reporting in the hands of the business user.
MicroStrategys history in the business intelligence sphere also gave us confdence that we had chosen
the right technology partner.

IT Specialist at Silverstar Casinos

Add/Remove
A*ributes
Metrics
Many
Views
EasilyFilter
data
VisuallyAnalyzeDataor
useOLAPenabledGrids
DropZonesfor
mulCdimensional
analysis
Add/Remove
Attributes
Metrics
Easily flter
data
Drop Zones for
multidimensional
analysis
Visually analyze data or
use OLAP enabled grids
16
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
User-Friendly Interface
Drag-and-drop actions
One-click access
Familiar Microsoft paradigms
Tree view navigation
Ribbon toolbars and menus
Accordion controls
Personalized interface
User collaboration capabilities
Context-sensitive online help
Sophisticated formatting for fnal
report presentation
YES
The MicroStrategy Web interface
leverages many familiar, user-friendly
paradigms, including folder-tree
navigation, ribbon toolbars, accordion
controls, control-click multi-select
capabilities, and context-sensitive right-
click actions.
MicroStrategy 9 enables collaboration via
comments that can be added to reports
to provide instructions to other users and
to share information. Every report can
maintain and display a set of notes with
details on who left the note and when.
MicroStrategy provides users
comprehensive, context-sensitive help
throughout the interface.
MicroStrategy Web allows users to format
reports and save custom format styles.
These include row-level headers, row-level
values, column-level headers, column-
level values, metric headers, metric values,
subtotal headers, subtotal values, custom
groups, consolidation, and reports.
LIMITED
Tableau provides an intuitive and user
friendly interface. However, the capabilities
provided are very limited. For example,
Tableau Web users cannot create new
reports, format existing reports, or add new
metrics to existing reports. This severely
limits the end user analysis capabilities
and makes them dependent on the IT
department. If the end users want to
create their own analysis they will have to
install and learn the Tableau desktop thick
client. Installing the Tableau desktop thick
client is not practical in case of large scale
deployments with 100s of information
consumers.
Self-Service Web Interface
Fully interactive interface with
controls for data formatting,
manipulation, and analysis
Real-time changes without a
publishing process
Creation of report objects, such as
prompts and flters, over the Web
What You See Is What You Get
(WYSIWYG) design and editing of
any report type over the Web
Zero-footprint Web interface from
any browser
YES
MicroStrategy puts wide-ranging control
in the hands of business users, minimizing
the need for IT personnel to perform the
same functions. Business users are able
to rapidly create, manipulate, format, and
analyze any report themselves, all through
a single Web interface. Report objects
such as prompts, flters, derived metrics,
thresholds, and totals can also be created
over the Web. Individual columns and
rows on a grid can be selected quickly
and users can easily format, drill, pivot,
and perform other tasks on-the-fy.
Changes are available right away without
any need to publish or export information
to other environments.
Business users create highly formatted
reports using any metadata object using
a zero-footprint, WYSIWYG design
paradigm that drastically shortens report
development time.
MicroStrategy Web is zero-footprint, and
does not rely on Java or ActiveX. As a
result, report designers and business
users can use any browser to design and
interact with reports.
LIMITED
Tableau users have limited options to
analyze and modify data over the Web.
Users can only sort, export, flter, and
refresh data. Users cannot format the
visualizations that are published to the
Web or change the visualization styles.
Further, users cannot create or modify
visualizations, flters, prompts, metrics,
thresholds, or subtotals over the Web
limiting their data analysis capabilities. As a
result of this limitation:
Only a select few can actually create
analysis (as the desktop license is
expensive), this also means that end user
requests will have to be routed through
a professional developer requiring
unnecessary iterations before business
users can actually get to the point of
performing analysis.
In scenarios requiring large scale
rollouts, end users will most likely use
the Web client which provides very basic
capabilities (fltering, sorting, etc). Users
cannot modify the analysis to perform
ad-hoc analysis thus missing most of the
benefts that visual analysis tools offer.
WYSIWYG design or modifcation is not
supported over the Web.
Visualizations must be published to Tableau
server for consumption through Web. Real-
time changes without a publishing process
is not supported by Tableau.
17
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Advanced Self-Service
Functionality
Data Import
Visual Insight
YES
The Data Import and Visual Insight
functionality is designed to give more
control to business users. Business users
can convert raw data into decisions in
minutes and without assistance from the
IT department.
Using Data Import functionality, business
users can easily import personal or
corporate data from local fles, Excel
fles, or relational databases through
the MicroStrategy Web interface. The
imported data can be easily converted
into interactive reports or dashboards
without any IT assistance.
MicroStrategy Visual Insight allows
business users to visually identify patterns,
trends, and anomalies in data. Business
users can intuitively query, visualize, flter,
and drill into their data. A drag-and-drop,
WYSIWYG interface enables business
users to visualize the changes as they
are made. MicroStrategy Visual Insight
provides incredible speed-of-interactivity,
detailed visualizations, and instant query
results, thus allowing business users to
rapidly go from data to decisions.
LIMITED
Tableau does not provide the capability
to import data from the Web interface,
desktop client is required to set up
connections to data sources. As a result,
end users will have to make requests to
the IT department to set up access to data
sources as they will not be able to import
personal or corporate data that they want
to analyze directly from the Web interface.
Similarly, Tableau does not provide the
capability to build visual analysis through
the Web interface. This severely limits the
end user self-service capabilities.
Instant Response to User Actions
Extreme AJAX Web interface
High degree of client-side
processing while maintaining a
zero-footprint Web client
YES
The MicroStrategy Web architecture
adheres to an Extreme AJAX model,
shifting processing from the Web server
to the Web browser for any browser
type. By spreading the processing
workload, the user is given a much
more responsive and interactive Web
experience while still preserving a true
zero-footprint Web interface.
LIMITED
Tableau supports a zero-footprint Web
interface. However, the functionality
supported by the Web interface is limited
to basic actions like sorting and fltering.
18
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Dynamic Report Personalization
Comprehensive parameter and
question prompting (column, flter,
search based, value, hierarchical)
Personal answers saved for reuse
across different reports
Security profles personalize report
content for individual users
YES
In MicroStrategy, a single report can span
hundreds of possible data combinations
tailored to different user needs.
MicroStrategy prompts provide report
input parameters that control most
aspects of a report, and give the user
signifcant ad hoc reporting capabilities.
Prompts enable the personalization of
reports from a single report defnition,
reducing the number of objects stored in
the metadata repository.
Advanced report parameters, like object
(column) and hierarchy prompts, allow
users to select the business attributes
and KPIs to include in the report at
run-time.
MicroStrategy Web displays prompt
values and report contents that are
permitted by the user's security profle.
For example, when running a prompted
report, dashboard, or document, the
user can only select prompt answers
that he has permission to see. In a
similar way, when running a report,
only the metrics and attributes that
the user has permission to see will be
displayed to the user.
NO
Prompting is not supported by Tableau.
Only basic element list prompts can be
simulated by means of flters.
Object prompts (like column and flter
prompting), hierarchy prompts, and metric
level prompts are not supported. This
results in creating and publishing more
views of reports than necessary. On the
other hand, with MicroStrategy, a single
highly prompted report can suffce the
analysis requirements of thousands of users
across multiple departments.
Furthermore, Tableau does not provide
a standalone prompt object that can be
reused across the entire deployment or
across multiple Tableau data sources.
4. HIGH PERFORMANCE AT ANY SCALE
MicroStrategy technology has long been the performance leader at high user counts and data scale. MicroStrategy
9 continues and extends that leadership with adaptive caching technology called In-memory ROLAP and SQL
generation optimizations that can deliver the highest query performance, even when accessing hundreds of
terabytes of data. In-memory ROLAP takes advantage of the huge addressable memory space now available on 64-
bit computers to provide high performance middle-tier databases that can respond directly to data requests from
reports, dashboards, and OLAP analyses.

We look forward to using MicroStrategy 9 In-memory ROLAP technology to help us improve our user
experience with faster response times and to take unnecessary pressure off our Teradata system.

Manager of BI Architecture, eBay
19
In-Memory BI Fills a Void in the Performance Curve of a BI System
BEFORE IN-MEMORY BI AFTER IN-MEMORY BI
Output
Caching
In-memory On-Disk
Caching Query
Database
Query
Slower
Response Time
Data Set
Caching
Report
Caching
Output
Caching
Database
Query
Data Set
Caching
In-memory
Query
Report
Caching
In-memory On-Disk
Caching Query
Faster
Response Time
Figure 5: MicroStrategy In-Memory BI Provides the Combination of Fast Response Time from Multidimensional Caching and the Flexibility of
Ad Hoc Query BI
ROLAP is unique among BI architectures in that it can model whole relational databases as if they were a single
multi-dimensional cube. In this case, the cube is virtual since relational databases often contain terabytes of data
that could not ft within any physical cube technology. MicroStrategys virtual cube provides MicroStrategy users
with the ability to perform OLAP interactions with the data and drill freely throughout the vast virtual cube without
the severe size limitations of MOLAP architectures.

MicroStrategys new In-memory ROLAP option is game changing. Unlike other in-memory approaches on
the market today, it is fully integrated with an enterprise BI environment and provides high performance
transparently to business users. The way in which large amounts of data are stored and accessed in-memory
is so seamless that I was skeptical until I saw the actual SQL generated and witnessed the performance.

Cindi Howson, Founder of BIScorecard

MicroStrategy 9 Multisource ROLAP Allows Data Environments to be Optimized for Performance and Cost
MicroStrategy Virtual Cube
Marketing
Data Mart
MicroStrategy Virtual Cube
Mfg
Data Mart
Enterprise
Data Whse
Sales
Data Mart
Financial
Data Mart
Lookups, Aggregates,
Summary Data
Enterprise Data Warehouse
Supporting Hub and Spoke Data Architectures Balance the Workload Across Databases
SQL
Server
Teradata
MySQL
Netezza
Sybase
IQ
SQL
Server
DB2
Figure 6: MicroStrategy Multisource ROLAP Helps Decrease Time to Value by incorporating Hub and Spoke Architectures and Decrease Cost
by Switching Database Processing from the Enterprise Data Warehouse to Alternative Lower Cost Databases.
20
Successful BI systems often experience dramatic growth in user populations. It is increasingly common for a single
MicroStrategy BI installation to support thousands and even tens of thousands of business users. The technical
challenge in these circumstances is to be able to effciently accommodate thousands of concurrent user sessions
while providing high performance and easy administration. MicroStrategy 9 supports 64-bit Java Virtual Machines
(JVMs) in both J2EE Web servers as well as ASP.net Web Servers. The dramatically expanded memory available
in 64-bit JVMs supports many more concurrent user sessions, and allows users to display and interact with larger
reports and dashboards.

The most critical factor for our organization is the speed with which we can react to the needs of the
business. MicroStrategy enables our executives and other business users to run reports and analyses
within seconds, which in turn, allows our employees to make timely decisions that dramatically impact
the business. Also, our high performance BI environment encourages the use of BI across the company,
providing greater visibility into the business for more employees.

Chief Information Offcer, FAMIQ
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Quick Response Time
In-memory ROLAP
Dynamic sourcing
Dynamic multi-level caching
YES
MicroStrategys In-memory ROLAP
capabilities leverage 64-bit operating
systems to improve the overall
performance of the BI system. In-memory
ROLAP cubes improve the performance of
the most time-consuming and frequently
used queries, while still allowing users
to seamlessly navigate the entire data
warehouse.
When building a report, the report
developer never has to explicitly reference
an In-memory ROLAP cube. Dynamic
sourcing capabilities automatically direct
queries to In-memory ROLAP cubes
whenever possible. Administrators can
be assured that the In-memory ROLAP
cubes they create will automatically
and immediately improve overall query
performance.
MicroStrategy provides automatic caching
at multiple levels, including element
list, metadata object, report dataset,
XML defnition, document output, and
database connection caching. Caching
makes the entire BI system effcient by
reducing redundant computations and
network traffc.
LIMITED
Tableau does not provide a in-memory
ROLAP architecture. Tableau is a Windows
application and it does not support other
platforms. As a result, Tableau cannot take
full advantage of the existing hardware
infrastructure.
Tableau does provide a tool similar
to MicroStrategy to automatically
recommend and create in-memory cubes
based on the usage statistics to maximize
the performance gains.
Tableaus caching capabilities are limited
and it does not support caching the
metadata objects, or caching of element
lists. In a clustered environment the
caches are not shared across the different
nodes. The options provided for cache
confgurations are also limited.
21
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
High Performance ROLAP Engine
Push-down joins
Push-down analytics
Multi-pass SQL
Support for all implementations of
multi-pass SQL, including the use
of temp tables, derived tables, and
common table expressions
Minimize network traffc
Automatic aggregate awareness
Database-specifc SQL generation
and optimization through VLDB
drivers
YES
MicroStrategys ROLAP architecture uses
the database for much of its processing.
Data joins and analytic calculations are
processed in the database whenever
possible. MicroStrategys multi-pass
approach provides the fexibility to answer
analytical questions in an optimal manner.
Any technical advances in the database are
seamlessly accessible to the MicroStrategy
platform. By leveraging the database to
its fullest extent possible, large volumes
of transaction level data are processed
effciently and network traffc is minimized.
Automatic and intelligent support for
common data warehouse optimization
techniques like aggregate tables and
table partitioning ensures that the
MicroStrategy SQL engine maximizes
database usage for every analysis. VLDB
properties allow for further fne-tuning
of the SQL engine on both a global
and report-by-report basis. Through
VLDB drivers, MicroStrategy can optimize
table join sequences, databases parallel
execution capabilities, query optimization
hints, and other database-specifc
tuning parameters. Global SQL query
optimization algorithms optimize complex
queries to reduce the number of SQL
passes, providing further performance
improvement to queries.
LIMITED
Tableau does not recommend its customers
to model the entire database and positions
itself as a subject-oriented analysis tool.
Tableau SQL engine is not designed to
handle complex datasets and is suitable
for only simple datasets with a single
fact table. As a result, Tableau is limited
in its ability to answer complex business
question involving data from multiple fact
tables and complex datasets.
Tableau does not support database
specifc SQL generation or database
specifc optimizations using VLDB settings.
MicroStrategy on the other, hand has
implemented unique optimizations for all
major database vendor including Aster,
Vertica, Greenplum, Netezza, and Teradata.
Tableau does not support multisource push-
down joining capability. When accessing
multiple sources using Tableau, the data is
pulled from each individual data source to
the mid-tier and then joins are performed
on-the-fy by the mid-tier client, resulting
in unnecessary network conjunctions and
ineffcient data processing.
Calculations like percent to total or
dimensional/level metrics are not performed
at the database level; rather, these types
of calculations are computed on-the-fy by
the Tableau mid-tier, resulting in wasteful
utilization of the database processing power.
Market Proven Enterprise
Scalability and Performance
Native 64-bit BI processing
64-bit Java Virtual Machines (JVMs)
support
Server Clustering for failover
recovery and load balancing
Customer references for large
user and data scale production
deployments
YES
The MicroStrategy platform is designed
for enterprise scalability. Native 64-bit
processing allows MicroStrategy to
support large numbers of users and data
volumes while improving performance.
MicroStrategy supports native 64-bit
processing for all major operating systems,
and across the entire BI platform.
MicroStrategy also fully supports 64-bit
Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) in both
J2EE Web servers as well as ASP.net Web
Servers. The expanded memory available
in 64-bit JVMs allows for optimal Web
performance across the enterprise. One
server can maintain more concurrent user
sessions and run much larger reports,
reducing overall hardware costs.
A cluster-capable server provides load
balancing and automatic failover
capabilities, so system resources are
allocated effciently and system uptime is
maximized. MicroStrategy clustered servers
support asymmetric confgurations, so
each cluster node can support different
applications. All cluster nodes share caches
and in-memory cubes and all changes
made to the metadata objects and security
settings take effect immediately.
MicroStrategy has many customer
references for deployments to thousands
of users who are reporting and analyzing
tens of terabytes of data.
NO
Tableau supports 64-bit for data loading
but does not support 64-bit processing for
data rendering. As a result, Tableau cannot
take full advantage of 64-bit hardware,
limiting its performance and scalability.
Tableau does not offer scalable and high
performing in-memory ROLAP architecture.
As a result, Tableau deployments are
typically departmental with low data
volumes and limited number of users.
Tableau is a Windows only application and
therefore deployment options are limited.
The distributed confguration of Tableau
Server helps with performance, but does
not help with reliability. Tableau does
not provide fail-over of the application
database; if the primary machine goes
down, the cluster as a whole is inoperative.
Tableau has limited customer
references for large scale user and data
implementations and is typically used in
small departmental deployments.
22
5. QUICK TO IMPLEMENT AND DEPLOY, EASY TO MAINTAIN AND ADMINISTER
MicroStrategy 9 can deliver BI solutions quickly with little or no IT support. MicroStrategys unifed BI architecture
offers many IT timesaving features including object reuse and optimized administration. MicroStrategy 9 allows
organizations to create a single shared business logic layer, the metadata, which presents a single cohesive model
of the business. Object reuse across the entire platform facilitates faster application development. Object reuse
across the entire platform also minimizes IT maintenance effort, since IT only needs to maintain one object instead
of several (or several hundred) object copies. Object reuse ensures a single version of the truth that persists across
all reports, dashboards, and analyses, regardless of who creates them.
MicroStrategy Allows Report Designers to Create Reusable Metadata Components
Range of Metadata
Elements Used in Reports
REPORT DESIGN
Layout
Format
Calculations
REPORT COMPONENTS
Parameterization
Templates
Filters
Autostyles
BUSINESS ABSTRACTION
Metrics
Hierarchies
Custom Groupings
Transformations
DATA ABSTRACTION
Attributes
Facts
Tables
Aliases
MicroStrategy Other BI
Technologies
Report-
Specific
Components
Report-
Specific
Components
Reusable
Metadata
Components
Reusable
Metadata
Components

Figure 7: The More Comprehensive the Reusable Metadata, the More an Enterprise can Ensure Fast and Managed Development
MicroStrategy designed its architecture to minimize administration overhead through capabilities such as a single
administration point, reusable and automated cell level data security, and automatic internationalization features.
A central point of control across the entire platform reduces overhead. MicroStrategys universally-applied reusable
security system protects the privacy of the data and dynamically flters out data from any report based on the
security profle of each business user. MicroStrategy 9 offers the ability to automatically present every report,
dashboard, or OLAP analysis in the local language of each business user viewing the information without requiring
any additional design work by report authors. MicroStrategy capabilities, such as centralization and automation,
allow administrators to deliver secure BI to any user base, whether to a department or to thousands of users, with
minimal IT effort. any additional design work by report authors. MicroStrategy capabilities, such as centralization
and automation, allow administrators to deliver secure BI to any user base, whether to a department or to
thousands of users, with minimal IT effort.

The new BI system has reduced the time we spend on monthly reporting by more than 50%. There is now
more time to spend on operations and innovation.

IT Specialist, Silverstar Casino
23
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Unifed BI Architecture
Single interface provides seamless
integration of analytics and reporting
for root cause analysis
Single metadata reduces IT effort
Single Server
Single code base across platforms
Single, zero-footprint Web interface

YES
MicroStrategys single code base offers
reusable business logic across the entire
platform. For example, MicroStrategys
dashboards can be made from
existing reports and objects, speeding
development and ensuring consistency
of report logic across reports and
dashboards.
MicroStrategys single BI server
provides effcient, centralized
administration for the IT administrator.
A single server with fewer moving
parts and processes translates into less
downtime.
LIMITED
Tableaus lack of object reusability
makes the BI environment more diffcult
to maintain, and increases the risk of
having multiple versions of the truth.
Tableau is limited in its ability to provide
all fve styles of BI. For example, Tableau
cannot generate the complete range
of enterprise reports (highly structured,
multi-page reports); and provides limited
capabilities to deliver sophisticated user-
driven alerting.
Reusable and Rich Metadata Layer
Robust abstraction layer where all
physical constructs can be modeled
logically and hidden from the business
user
Highly reusable metadata
Automatic change management
Object-oriented metadata

YES
MicroStrategys object-oriented
metadata defnes an enterprises
business layer in a single repository.
Metadata objects can be nested as
building blocks to create more complex
objects. If a metadata object changes,
every other metadata object dependent
on it automatically changes. This ensures
consistency across business defnitions
and minimizes the number of objects to
create and maintain.
MicroStrategy assembles all metadata
objects necessary for a report and
dynamically builds the report SQL at
run-time. Complex queries, such as set
qualifcations, dimensional calculations,
and custom groupings, are created easily
without requiring manual SQL coding.
NO
Tableaus lack of a unifed object
oriented metadata results in redundant
development and maintenance efforts.
There is little object or metadata
reusability between dashboards making
it diffcult to maintain a consistent
business view of the data. One change
to a business defnition would involve
making changes to each Tableau
application one by one, a mistake-prone
and onerous process. The lack of object
reusability makes the BI environment
more diffcult to maintain, and increases
the risk of having multiple versions of
the truth.
24
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Enterprise-Caliber Administration
Single management console
Self-tuning scalable server for
maximum performance
Impact analysis
Usage monitoring / auditing
Controlled environment for usage
analysis
Object management / migration
Change journaling
Automated regression testing
Optimization of In-Memory ROLAP
environment
YES
MicroStrategys centralized
administration provides a single
console for real-time user and system
management. Administrators can view
and perform tasks on many system-wide
activities, including executing jobs, user
management, and scheduled services.
MicroStrategy Enterprise Manager
provides out-of-the box platform
monitoring with hundreds of KPIs and
corresponding dashboards to perform
impact analysis, auditing and tuning of
the BI application.
MicroStrategy Object Manager facilitates
metadata life cycle management,
metadata dependencies, and project
management.
MicroStrategys change journaling
system captures and logs all changes
to the metadata. Change tracking is
critical for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
Persistent commenting allows distributed
development teams to communicate
with one another about their changes.
MicroStrategy Integrity Manager
automates the report comparison
process and verifes the consistency of
reports. This tool can detect, compare,
and present inconsistencies in reports
and data caused by changes in the
BI ecosystem. Discrepancies in data
values, SQL, and graph display are
highlighted. Cube Advisor recommends
and automatically creates an optimal set
of In-Memory Cubes to reduce database
processing and improve response times.
LIMITED
In order to be data scalable, simply
being able process large volumes of data
is insuffcient. Large data volumes are
typically associated with
Complex Schema
Many tables and columns
Sophisticated analytical needs
Large number of users (which typically
translates to more reports to maintain)
Tableau is typically diffcult to administer
under these conditions.
Tableaus capabilities to queue and
prioritize jobs are limited. As a result, the
administrator has little control to prevent
the server from being overtaxed or to
properly prioritize resource allocation.
Tableau provides system statistics to the
administrator for example, how many
users are logged in and how many jobs
are running. However, Tableau does
not allow the administrator to manually
log out users or kill jobs. In short, the
Tableau administrator can monitor the
system, but has little power to act.
Tableau does not support change
journaling capabilities out-of-the-
box and does not provide object
management and migration capabilities
to move selected objects from
development to production projects.
Tableau does not provide automated
regression testing tools to detect report
and data discrepancies caused by
changes in the BI system.
Industrial-Strength Multi-level
Security
One, reusable setup for platform-wide
cell level data security
Same report yields different views
of the information based on user
profles
User profle determines appropriate
level of functionality
Truly zero-footprint Web interface. No
use or download of ActiveX and other
plug-ins
Automatic secure extranet ready with
128-bit encryption
Integrate with any security
infrastructure with single sign-on
YES
MicroStrategy provides centralized
security administration across the entire
platform. Reusable user profles and
privileges automatically ensure users only
access the appropriate information and
functionality down to the data cell level.
MicroStrategy automatically provides
128-bit end-to-end encryption with a
zero-footprint Web client, making it a
secure platform behind the frewall.
MicroStrategy automatically integrates
with existing security authentication
infrastructure such as LDAP, NT,
Windows Active Directory, Tivoli, CA
SiteMinder, and database security.
LIMITED
Security has to be defned redundantly
for each Tableau workbook and there
is no way to centrally apply security
across the entire Tableau deployment. It
is not possible to centrally apply access
control privileges to individual objects
like metrics, flters, prompts, or custom
groups across the entire deployment.
25
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Easy to Maintain Global
Deployments
Native support for multilingual
deployments
Confgurable translations for multiple
content categories, including the
interface, error messages, date/number
formatting, metadata objects, and
report data
Integrated interfaces and wizards to
input translations or import translation
strings
Support for partially translated
metadata
Flexible support for multiple data
warehouse translation methods
Internationalization-aware data pre-
calculations
YES
MicroStrategy offers the ability to
dynamically present every report,
dashboard, or OLAP analysis in the local
language of each business user viewing
the information.
Translation wizards and interfaces
make it easy for end users to input
or import translation strings into the
metadata. Translations can be performed
incrementally; fallback language settings
allow for partially translated metadata.
Multiple methods of data warehouse
translations are supported, including
translations at the column-level, row
level, table-level, and database-level. A
single In-memory ROLAP Cube supports
multiple languages so that resources are
used effciently.
NO
Tableau currently only supports English,
French and German and has very limited
international presence.
Tableau does not provide integrated
interfaces and wizards to manage
multilingual deployments.
Easy to Customize and Migrate
Seamlessly
Single development environment for
entire platform
Easy to create and upgrade
customizations via Web Customization
editor
Eclipse Integrated Development
Environment (IDE) integration
Flex Builder support
Extensive API documentation

YES
The MicroStrategy SDK is a
comprehensive development
environment primarily used for
integrating MicroStrategy functionality
into other existing systems, especially
enterprise portals, and customizing
and extending the functionality of
MicroStrategy Web.
The MicroStrategy Web Customization
Editor integrates into the Eclipse
IDE. Developers can easily perform
MicroStrategy Web customization and
migration tasks by eliminating the need
to manually modify confguration fles.
MicroStrategy provides Flex Builder 4.6
support for creating powerful Internet
applications embedded with robust
business intelligence.
The MicroStrategy Developer
Zone offers developers access to
documentation via advanced search
functionality such as sorting results
by relevance or by date, wild card
and exact phrase searching, word
highlighting, spelling suggestions, and
exclusion searches. MicroStrategy
provides developers with an
online collaborative community,
documentation, and customization
code samples.
LIMITED
Tableau does not provide a
customization editor that can be
used to easily create and maintain
customizations.
26
6. HIGHLY INTERACTIVE AND FLEXIBLE MOBILE INTELLIGENCE
The use of the Internet on smartphones and other mobile devices has changed the way people communicate and
consume information, creating an exponential rise in the acceptance, adoption, and usage of data. With the ability
to access information at any time, in any location, on a hand-held device, consumers can now make more and more
decisions quickly and easily.
MicroStrategy offers a very robust and innovative mobile app development platform that can be used either
for creating purpose-built, workfow-driven mobile applications, or for directly displaying existing Reports and
Dashboards on mobile devices without the need of re-authoring.
MicroStrategy Mobile Apps:
Are faster and simpler to develop (no coding) Created by metadata driven, point-and-click paradigms and
fully utilizing MicroStrategys BI infrastructure, security, and reusable metadata components.
Are easier to maintain Changes to the centralized BI platform metadata are instantaneously propagated to all
user interfaces, including mobile devices. Changes are made once and only in one place in the metadata, ensuring
a single version of the truth and hassle-free maintenance.
Are enterprise grade Delivers the full benefts of MicroStrategys BI infrastructure: administration, security,
scalability, and performance.
Provide intuitive and powerful visualizations Fully leverages MicroStrategys vast library of advanced visualizations.
Provide exceptional fexibility The MicroStrategy app platform provides exceptional fexibility to create a wide
range of mobile apps that go above and beyond the boundaries of traditional BI, without writing a single line of code.
Most other BI companies are still trying to establish their mobile strategies and are primarily focused on providing
traditional BI through mobile devices. These companies do not offer an app development platform that is specifcally
designed for building rich mobile applications, while fully leveraging the underlying BI platform infrastructure.
Information at Your Fingerprints Using MicroStrategy's Workfow-Driven Mobile BI

Figure 8: MicroStrategy Mobile Intelligence Provides Exceptional Flexibility to Create a Wide Range of Mobile Apps.
App-Centric
Purpose-built, workfow-driven Apps that
quickly and easily guide users through their
data to discovery, analysis, or decision. Apps
fully leverage mobile device capabilities,
including the multi-touch interface, sensors
(GPS, camera, etc.), communications (voice,
email, text), and more.
Enterprise Grade
Designed to deliver the higher levels of
performance and scalability demanded by
mobile Apps. MicroStrategy delivers in-memory,
multi-level caching, ROLAP analytics, robust
security, easy extensibility, and comprehensive
administration features designed for enterprise
deployments.
Fast to App
Fast, code-free app development via
MicroStrategys metadata-driven, point-and-
click paradigm. Build rich, interactive BI apps
in just days. Speed deployment by building
once and deploying across platform to iPhone,
iPad, BlackBerry, browsers, Microsoft Offce,
or portals.
Card Home
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Summary as of April 1, 2010
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iPad 1:55 PM 100% iPad 1:55 PM 100%
iPad 1:55 PM 100%
Channel Overview
Retail
IVR
<15k
0
20,000,000,000
450,000,000
400,000,000
350,000,000
300,000,000
250,000,000
200,000,000
150,000,000
100,000,000
50,000,000
0
40,000,000,000
60,000,000,000
80,000,000,000
100,000,000,000
15k-25k 25k-50k 50k+
50+
Total Visits
Top Buyers
Request Visits
Under-driven
Purchases
Offer-driven
Purchases
16-25
25-35
35-50
Call Center
Web
Trend and per-Channel Ranking Current, Last, Last Years Quarter
City
Location Income
<15k
15k-25k
25k-50k
50k+
<15k
15k-25k
25k-50k
50k+
3.92%
3.92%
3.93%
3.79%
3.00%
3.09%
3.00%
2.99%
54.34%
54.32%
54.25%
47.79%
39.69%
39.67%
39.67%
36.45%
Current Conversion % Other Conversion % Other Trend
Rural
Series: Repeat Visits
Category: 20092
Value: 348,604,353
Series: Web
Category: Revenue
Value: 186,810M
27

We were wowed by MicroStrategys technology and the ability to build our application in one week
leveraging our existing infrastructure. Our clients are very excited about our new iPhone app and the
capabilities it provides to help them enhance effciency and improve business performance. We see
tremendous potential for iPhone and iPad apps, which will enable our clients to access important
information whenever they need it.

CTO, Alloso Technologies
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Enterprise grade mobile application
Minimum development efforts
Minimum maintenance efforts
Superior performance and scalability
Minimum administration efforts
Multi-level BI platform security
extended to mobile devices
Data protection on the mobile device

YES
New reports for the mobile devices are
created by metadata driven, point-
and-click paradigm fully utilizing
MicroStrategys BI infrastructure, security
and reusable metadata components. As
a result, reports for mobile devices can
be created rapidly and easily, in a code-
free environment. Changes to metadata
are instantaneously propagated to all
user interfaces. Changes are made only
once, and only at one place ensuring
hassle-free maintenance.
MicroStrategy Mobile leverages the
MicroStrategy platforms superior
performance, scalability, and
functionality provides rapid answers to
tens of thousands of users through their
mobile devices. Performance is further
enhanced by effciently caching reports,
and dashboards locally on the mobile
device.
MicroStrategy's acclaimed administration
tools provides the administration
effciencies needed to deploy mobile
applications to hundreds of thousands
of users, while providing the industry's
lowest total cost of ownership.
MicroStrategy Mobile utilizes the
same sophisticated user authorization
management framework available in the
MicroStrategy platform and in addition,
MicroStrategy provides a number of
different security features to protect
data stored on the device, including but
not limited to iOS Hardware Encryption,
iOS's "sandbox" to protects app data
from other apps, Locally-stored data
purged upon exiting the app, remote
wipe off in case the device is stolen, etc.
LIMITED
Tableau provides a hybrid app for the
iPad. However, for all other mobile
devices and operating system access
to Tableau content is only supported
through the Web browser. Tableau
mobile users have to be connected to
internet in order to view and interact
with the visualization. There is no offine
analysis capability and reports cannot be
cached on the device for quick answers.
As a result, performance of the Tableau
mobile deployment is affected.
Tableau does not does not follow a true
object-oriented development paradigm,
and does not provide the same extent
of object reusability resulting in greater
development and maintenance efforts.
Tableau provides very limited
administration effciency tool to easily
manage and maintain the deployment.
There are typically a large number of
Tableau workbooks foating across
a Tableau deployment. Tableau
Workbooks act as self contained
application with their own data and
metadata. Managing and maintaining
the large number of independent
workbooks becomes a challenge for
administrators and can easily lead to
spreadmart issues.
28
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Highly interactive and intuitive user
experience
Native mobile applications
Device-specifc actions
o Multi-touch
o App integration
o Sensor based query
o Mobile Info capture
BI-specifc features perfectly designed
to work with device specifc capabilities
o Drill anywhere
o Swipe to page-by
o Integrated mapping
o Rich visualizations
o Alerts through push notifcations
o Prompting
o Subscriptions
Offine analysis
YES
MicroStrategy provides native Apps
for mobile device. The native Apps are
designed to fully leverage mobile device
capabilities including the multi-touch
interface, sensors (GPS, camera, etc.),
communications (voice, email, text), and
more.
The MicroStrategy Mobile Apps provide
a vast range of BI specifc functionality
that is designed to leverage, and work
seamlessly with the device capabilities.
The BI functionality includes integrated
Google maps, OOTB drill-anywhere, a
vast library of advanced visualizations,
device specifc actions to perform BI
specifc tasks such as swipe (horizontally
or vertically) to page-by, alerts for report
refresh or data changes through push
notifcations, intelligent prompting,
metric swapping, and much more.
With MicroStrategy Mobile, reports are
cached directly on the mobile devices
for fast, offine viewing. Reports are
fully interactive; data can be sliced and
sorted; and columns can be locked,
resized, and reordered for effective
comparisons of metrics.
Users can subscribe to reports directly
from their Blackberry device and
do not have to wait for IT to create
subscriptions for them.
LIMITED
Tableau mobile fails to provide intuitive
user experience that mobile users
are accustomed to. Tableau mobile
interface supports only basic fltering
and sorting of data. Other BI specifc
functionality like drill-anywhere, swipe to
page-by, alerting through Apple's push
notifcation, prompting using the native
controls, metric swapping for effcient
real estate utilization, or annotation
capability is not supported.
Tableau delivers only traditional BI
through mobile devices. They do not
provide the fexibility to implement
unique workfows to suite specifc
requirements and business process of
different organizations.
Tableau does not support offine analysis
by caching data locally on the device.
Tableau mobile users must be connected
to the internet to view and interact with
Tableau BI content.
App Development Platform
Flexibility to create any information
workfow
Ability to deliver multiple forms of
information through the mobile app
Actionable mobile apps
YES
MicroStrategy App platform provides
exceptional fexibility to create Mobile apps
that can be used to create a very wide
range of mobile applications that go above
and beyond the boundaries of traditional
BI, without writing a single line of code.
MicroStrategy extends the boundaries of
the mobile BI App by delivering multiple
forms of information to users within the
same App. Unstructured information, like
images, text, desktop publishing design,
web content (web pages, videos), and
more. In addition, MicroStrategy Mobile
also provides In-App PDF reader, Email,
Browser, HTML containers, and optimized
ePub handling.
MicroStrategy provides the ability to imple-
ment, and embed transactional capabilities
into the information driven mobile apps.
Using MicroStrategy Mobile, business
users can not only monitor key business
metrics, but also initiate appropriate ac-
tions from within the mobile apps.
LIMITED
Tableau delivers only traditional BI
through mobile devices. They do not
provide the fexibility to implement
unique workfows to suite specifc
requirements and business process of
different organizations.
Tableau mobile BI application is
limited only to view the pre-created
visualizations and does not support
delivering multimedia content like
photos, videos, PDF fles, or ePub
documents through the mobile app.
Tableau does not provide the ability to
implement, and embed transactional
capabilities into the information driven
mobile apps.
29
7. DEEP INSIGHT THROUGH SUPERIOR ANALYTICS
MicroStrategy 9 allows users to freely investigate data and surf through the data warehouse without having to
design a new report for each new combination of data that a user wants to see. Users can create analytic metrics
leveraging a wide range of data mining algorithms, statistical, predictive, and OLAP functions, as well as capabilities
for metric grouping on-the-fy. Users can import complex statistical models from specialized third party data mining
applications. MicroStrategys unifed platform ensures that all these analytic capabilities are available on any type of
report in the entire BI environment.

World-class analytics are important and MicroStrategy is a cost effcient way to address our expanding BI
requirement.

Chief Executive Offcer, eHarmony

Figure 9: Advanced Analytics can be Easily Incorporated into and Consumed through Reports, Dashboards and Scorecards.
MicroStrategys ability to generate multi-pass SQL is a key element in providing analytically sophisticated business
intelligence applications. Multi-pass SQL is required to answer analytical questions that require several steps and
cannot be answered with a single SQL query block. MicroStrategy generates SQL that performs these multi-pass
queries as effciently as possible for each particular database. Iterative analysis is the dynamic mechanism that
represents the continuous interaction and advanced analytical techniques between the BI server and the database.
MicroStrategy uses this approach when complex questions cannot be answered using only the database. Not
only does MicroStrategy automatically invoke iterative analysis when required, it also dynamically decides the
most optimal location to perform the calculations, based on its own strengths and the database strengths, while
minimizing data transfer.

MicroStrategys powerful analytics help us analyze sales performance across locations and model lines for
enhanced sales targeting and inventory management

Manager, IT Systems, Porsche Cars North

America, Inc.
Web Browser
Apple iPad
Web Browser
iPad 1:55 PM 100% iPad 1:55 PM 100%
Web Browser
Apple iPad
Apple iPad
Segmentation
Analysis
Trend
Analysis
Statistical
Analysis
30
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Effciently Answer Complex
Questions
Multi-pass SQL
Reusable analysis objects (e.g.,
custom groups, consolidations,
transformations, conditional
metrics, sets)
Support for complex defnitions of
analysis objects (e.g., conditional
metrics with set conditions, custom
groups defned with a mix of
metric qualifcations and attributes
at different levels, set analysis with
multi-attribute comparisons)
All analytical capabilities available
across all styles of BI
YES
MicroStrategys ability to generate
multipass SQL allows MicroStrategy to
answer analytical questions that require
several steps and cannot be answered
with a single SQL query block.
The MicroStrategy metadata supports a
rich set of reusable analysis objects. In
addition to attributes, metrics, and flters,
complex objects such as custom groups
and transformations can be created and
reused in any report. The reusability of
these analysis objects allows business
users to answer sophisticated questions
without requiring IT coding and promotes
more effcient application development.
MicroStrategys analysis objects can be
defned with a high degree of complexity.
For example, a custom group can be
based on a mix of metric qualifcations
and multiple attributes at different levels.
LIMITED
Tableau Software recommends performing
analysis only on the subject at hand and
does not recommend modeling the entire
database because Tableau is more suitable
for performing analysis on simple datasets
with a single fact table and cannot handle
much complexity. Tableau by default joins
all the tables (lookup and fact) in a given
connection even for simple queries that do
not require joining all the tables.
Tableau does not provide multi-pass SQL
generation capabilities, and therefore, is
limited in its ability to answer questions
that involve:
Complex set analysis
Split metrics
Calculation at different levels of aggregation
For example, questions like Show me
sales by region over the last six months, but
only for customers who purchased one of
the 5 most popular products in 2004, and
for regions where vendors have the most
reliable shipment times over all time are
very diffcult to answer using Tableau.
Analysis objects like new metrics, derived
metrics, consolidation, new flters, or
subtotals cannot be created from the
Tableau Web interface. As a result, Tableau
Web users are limited in their ability to
answer complex business questions.
Sophisticated Predictive Analytics
Single unifed platform provides
data mining scoring capabilities
Open platform and cross-vendor
interoperability via PMML
Seamless integration of predictive
analytics with casual reporting
Support for popular predictive
analytic algorithms (e.g., Linear
Regression, Logistic Regression,
Tree-Regression, Clustering,
Decision Tree, Association Rules,
Time Series)
Support for complex algorithms
(e.g., Neural Network, Rule
Set, Support Vector Machine,
Ensembles of Models)
Member of the Data Mining Group,
a data mining standards-setting
organization
YES
The MicroStrategy BI platform delivers data
mining and predictive analytics to all users
through a fully unifed and integrated
enterprise-caliber BI system. MicroStrategy
Data Mining Services enables organizations
to maximize their investment in data
mining products by importing their
Predictive Model Markup Language
(PMML) and seamlessly encapsulating the
model as a predictive metric for use with
any report or document.
Report designers and analysts can view and
build predictive reports using MicroStrategy
and then distribute these reports to all
relevant decision makers and stakeholders.
Business analysts can perform further
analysis slicing-and dicing data, creating
ad hoc reports, drilling, pivoting, and
sorting on predictive reports. All users
continue to inherit all the object reuse,
security, administrative, and manageability
benefts of the MicroStrategy BI platform.
MicroStrategy data mining scoring
capabilities support cross-vendor
interoperability. MicroStrategy supports
PMML from SPSS, KXEN, SAS, Salford
Systems, Oracle, ANGOSS, FairIsaac,
StatSoft and R.
MicroStrategy is an active member of the
Data Mining Group, providing guidance
and leadership to set the PMML standards
for the data mining industry.
LIMITED
Tableau offers the capabilities to perform
basic statistical analysis. However, Tableau
provides limited sophisticated data mining
and predictive analysis capabilities.
Tableau does not support complex
algorithms (e.g., Neural Network, Rule Set,
Support Vector
Machine, and Ensembles of Models).
Tableau is not a member of the Data
Mining Group.
Tableau does not support importing third
party PMML models into Tableau reports
or metrics.
31
8. FLEXIBLE TECHNOLOGY FOR DEPARTMENTAL TO ENTERPRISE BI
Increasingly, departments want their own islands of departmental BI because they need the fexibility and speed
offered by smaller systems that are unencumbered by inter-departmental coordination, budgeting allocations,
and project prioritization. On the other hand, CFOs and CIOs want enterprise BI systems because they offer a
single version of the truth and the lowest cost of ownership. With MicroStrategy 9, companies can have both.
MicroStrategys fexible BI platform provides multi-source data access, rapid application development, and seamless
migration from departmental to enterprise BI.
MicroStrategy 9 Supports a Gradual and Incremental Migration from Islands of BI into a Consolidated
Enterprise BI System

Enterprise DW
HR Dept Sales Dept
HR Sales
Enterprise
Fin
Enterprise HR Sales
Finance Dept HR Dept Sales Dept
Enterprise DW Enterprise DW
HR Dept Sales Dept
Fin
Finance Dept
Fin
Finance Dept
Enterprise
Stage 1
Disparate Islands of BI
All Running on MicroStrategy BI
Stage 2
Merging Islands of BI
Using MicroStrategy Multi-source
Stage 3
Consolidating Data
Re-pointing Metadata to the EDW
HR Sales
Figure 10: MicroStrategy Technology Provides a Seamless Migration Path from Departmental BI to Enterprise BI

Organizations need to gradually and incrementally consolidate their departmental and workgroup islands of
BI into a cohesive enterprise framework that ensures a single version of the truth and low cost of operation.
MicroStrategy is directly addressing this challenge with MicroStrategy 9, which contains an In-memory BI and
Multi-source BI capability that will make MicroStrategys enterprise-caliber technology equally suitable for
workgroup BI and departmental BI. MicroStrategys new platform includes capabilities that allow consolidation
and transformation of departmental and workgroup islands of BI without having to redo reports or dashboards
as consolidation takes place.

Chief Executive Offcer and Executive Vice President Research, Ventana Research
32
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Seamless Migration From
Departmental to Enterprise BI
Metadata compatibility enables
consolidation of islands of
information
Metadata abstraction layer enables
seamless re-pointing of the data
source without affecting the
business model
Advanced migration and
environment management tools
YES
MicroStrategys metadata compatibility
enables departments to incrementally
migrate their business logic into a
consolidated BI environment.
MicroStrategys metadata abstraction
layer allows companies to re-point the
metadata to automatically access new
data locations without disrupting reports
or requiring redesign.
MicroStrategy Object Manager can
automatically consolidate disparate
departmental BI applications while
reconciling all overlaps or conficts that
may arise.
NO
Tableau lacks a robust abstraction layer
and also lacks advanced migration and
environment management tools. As
a result, Tableau applications cannot
be re-pointed to automatically access
new data locations without disrupting
the reports. Also, incremental migration
of departmental application into a
consolidated BI environment is not
supported.
High Performing Multi-source
Data Access
Unifed multi-dimensional business
model across multiple data sources
Optimized retrieval of multi-source
data
Smart Push-Down architecture
Automatic multi-source drill
anywhere
Support for distributed workload
database architectures
Direct access to multi-dimensional
data sources including SAP
BW InfoCubes and QueryCubes,
Hyperion Essbase, and Microsoft
Analysis Services.
Direct reporting from salesforce.com
YES
MicroStrategys unifed multi-dimensional
business model allows companies to create
a single logical view spanning multiple data
sources, making it easy to add new data
sources. Users are able to seamlessly drill
across multiple data sources.
MicroStrategy optimizes the retrieval of
data from heterogeneous data sources.
MicroStrategy dynamically selects the
most effcient data source to query. The
MicroStrategy SQL engine automatically
creates queries optimized for each data
source for fast performance without IT
tuning efforts.
MicroStrategys Smart Push-Down
architecture performs joins at the database
layer thereby minimizing network traffc and
leveraging the power of modern database
engines. MicroStrategy further minimizes
network traffc by moving the least amount
of data to the most optimal database.
LIMITED
Tableau does not allow joining data from
multiple sources at the schema layer;
instead, Tableau joins the data from
multiple data sources on-the-fy at the
mid-tier level creating unnecessary network
conjunctions. Tableaus multi source
capabilities are more suitable for simple
data mash-ups and can be very tedious to
implement in cases where the underlying
datasets are complex.
Rapid Departmental BI
Application Development
No need for a data warehouse or
ETL tool
Graphical and intuitive design
interface to minimize IT effort
Automatic detection wizard for
creation of business logic and table
mappings
Pre-created templates for
quick project and dashboard
development
Command line administrative tool
for high volume tasks
Comprehensive data model
support

YES
MicroStrategy 9 provides easy access to
multiple data sources without requiring
a data warehouse. MicroStrategy can
instantiate In-memory ROLAP cubes by
pulling information from multiple sources,
obviating the need of an ETL tool or a
data warehouse.
MicroStrategys graphical design interface
makes it fast and easy to add new data
sources and defne business logic. A set of
pre-created templates speed dashboard
development.
MicroStrategy automatically detects data
types from data sources and creates
the entire business logic layer, speeding
development.
MicroStrategy provides a scripting
interface that allows project developers to
schedule massive and repetitive tasks in a
matter of seconds.
LIMITED
The interface to design joins between
tables is not graphical and does not
support drag and drop actions. As a result,
users can easily lose track of the data being
prepared, especially when the underlying
data is complex.
Pre-created templates for quick dashboard
development are not provided. This
increases the time and efforts required to
create visually presentable dashboards.
Scripting interface to automate repetitive
administration task is also not provide
increasing the administration workload.
33
KEY BI REQUIREMENTS MICROSTRATEGY 9 TABLEAU 7
Centralized and De-Centralized
Administration
Web-based administration for
business managers
Allows distribution of administrative
tasks, including object promotion,
data integrity checking, and user
management
Update Packages allow distributed
development
YES
MicroStrategy 9 allows user and
application administration responsibilities
to be distributed to business people within
individual departments using a Web
interface. This offoads administrative
tasks from centralized IT personnel and
gives departments the ability to have their
own databases, their own BI applications,
and their own metadata within the
same infrastructure as the enterprise BI
environment.
MicroStrategy 9 Update Packages can
automatically consolidate disparate
development teams updates and changes.
LIMITED
Tableau provides limited administration
capabilities to implement a centralized
and de-centralized administration model
that provides a centralized security and
development infrastructure, while allowing
for departmental administrators with a
prebuilt and limited scope of capabilities.
III. MicroStrategy A Market Proven, Industrial-Strength
Technology
MicroStrategy 9 is an advanced technology that allows companies to support all types of BI applications with one
technology. MicroStrategy 9 builds on MicroStrategys heritage of high-end BI and further extends the boundaries
of performance, scalability, and effciency of enterprise BI. At the same time, MicroStrategy 9 brings that same
enterprise caliber BI technology easily within reach of smaller departmental BI initiatives. Just as importantly,
MicroStrategy 9 provides a smooth migration path for islands of departmental BI to merge into a cohesive and
consistent enterprise-wide framework. With MicroStrategy 9, even as departmental BI applications are consolidated
into the enterprise-wide framework, the departments can continue to retain signifcant autonomy and nimbleness
that they enjoyed previously.

Today, organizations need a business intelligence solution that can support user self-suffciency and can
respond more quickly and effectively to local business needs. MicroStrategy 9 provides end users with
more control over the analysis and reports they create and helps them to be more self-suffcient, require far
less IT support, and quickly adapt to changing business requirements.

Wayne Eckerson, Director of TDWI Research at The Data Warehousing Institute
Unlike BI suites offered by other vendors, MicroStrategy offers the only organically grown BI architecture. All
of the MicroStrategy 9 components were expressly built to work within a unifed architecture and not as
separate standalone products or acquired technologies that were subsequently joined together. This caliber of BI
technology is now being sought after by companies, not solely for their most demanding BI applications, but for
the purpose of hosting all of their BI applications. Today, companies can standardize all BI into a single, highly-
functional, effcient architecture and reap signifcant economies of scale and enterprise-wide consistency.
MicroStrategy Incorporated 1850 Towers Crescent Plaza Tysons Corner, VA 22182 1.888.537.8135 www.microstrategy.com COLL-1082 0812
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All Contents Copyright 2012 MicroStrategy Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
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Patent Information
This product is patented. One or more of the following patents may apply to the product sold herein: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,154,766, 6,173,310, 6,260,050, 6,263,051, 6,269,393, 6,279,033,
6,567,796, 6,587,547, 6,606,596, 6,658,093, 6,658,432, 6,662,195, 6,671,715, 6,691,100, 6,694,316, 6,697,808, 6,704,723, 6,741,980, 6,765,997, 6,768,788, 6,772,137, 6,788,768, 6,798,867,
6,801,910, 6,820,073, 6,829,334, 6,836,537, 6,850,603, 6,859,798, 6,873,693, 6,885,734, 6,940,953, 6,964,012, 6,977,992, 6,996,568, 6,996,569, 7,003,512, 7,010,518, 7,016,480, 7,020,251,
7,039,165, 7,082,422, 7,113,993, 7,127,403, 7,174,349, 7,181,417, 7,194,457, 7,197,461, 7,228,303, 7,260,577, 7,266,181, 7,272,212, 7,302,639, 7,324,942, 7,330,847, 7,340,040, 7,356,758,
7,356,840, 7,415,438, 7,428,302, 7,430,562, 7,440,898, 7,486,780, 7,509,671, 7,516,181, 7,559,048, 7,574,376, 7,617,201, 7,725,811, 7,801,967, 7,836,178, 7,861,161, 7,861,253, 7,881,443,
7,925,616, 7,945,584, 7,970,782, 8,005,870, 8,051,168, 8,051,369, 8,094,788 and 8,130,918. Other patent applications are pending.