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DATA DISCOVERY DATA PREPARATION
APPROXIMATE TIME NEEDED: 1 HOUR
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Introduction
The CEO of South & Group Consulting needs insight on the performance of his international consulting
firm. S&G has offices throughout the world, with some locations performing better than others. The CEO
has tasked you with investigating the performance of the U.S. to see how effectively the region has
achieved their revenue goals as well as the efficiency of their closed opportunities. He also asks for a
comparison of other international locations broken down by different countries. You decide to provide this
analysis using a MicroStrategy dashboard.
Getting started
1. Double click the MicroStrategy Desktop icon.
2. Click the Get Started button on the Welcome screen. The dashboard interface will
display.
3. If this is your first time working with MicroStrategy Desktop, the Quick Tips guided
product tour will be displayed. Click Hide Quick Tips to remove the notes.
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Connect to your data
You have been given access to South & Group’s historic annual revenue data for the U.S region, which
includes records spanning from 2013 to 2016. This information resides in a Microsoft Excel workbook
provided to you by the regional manager.
4. From the Dashboard Datasets panel, click on the Add Data button. Select New Data…
to open the Connect to Your Data wizard.
TIP: With MicroStrategy Desktop you can instantly connect to nearly any data source, from traditional
Excel spreadsheets, to cloud-based applications, big data sources, and even social media sources like
Facebook and Twitter. MicroStrategy 10 offers 20+ new data import options for even easier analysis.
5. For this example, you will import data from an Excel file, so select the File From Disk
option from the wizard.
6. After selecting your data source, click Choose Files to browse your local machine and
import a spreadsheet.
7. Browse to the Annual Revenue Data 2013-2016.xlsx file, select it, and click Open. The
file should be located in the workshop materials folder provided to you preceding
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this lesson.
8. Select the Prepare Data button in the dialog box to modify the data you are importing.
TIP: MicroStrategy allows users to import multiple sheets at a single time. This allows for easy uploading
of entire excel worksheets, without requiring you to delete sheets that aren’t used for your visualization.
Each sheet will automatically be treated as a different table within the dataset, allowing you to create joins
between tables.
9. Ensure that Opportunities by Date is checked, and then select the Revenue Goal and
Revenue by Opportunity sheets. Click on the Select button.
After the data loads, you will be taken to the Preview window, which contains information about the
attributes and metrics included in the different datasets.
TIP: MicroStrategy allows users to import multiple sheets at a single time. This allows for easy uploading
of entire excel worksheets, without requiring you to delete sheets that aren’t used for your visualization.
Each sheet will automatically be treated as a different table within the dataset, allowing you to create joins
between tables.
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Note that each attribute and metric is clearly marked. Attributes are represented by a green icon, while
metrics are represented by an orange icon.
10. In order to display more data, click on the Expand Preview arrow adjacent to
“Opportunities by Date (Annual Revenue Data 2013-2016.xlsx)” to expand the
Preview window.
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Now you can see the full attribute and metric columns. Note that the Preview window shows data for the
first 50 rows in the selected dataset. This gives you a general idea of the data you’re working with.
Wrangle your data
You still need to do some adjustments and format the data. Some columns in the Revenue by
Opportunity table need to be cleaned up for them to be usable on a dashboard. MicroStrategy 10
empowers you to do this with the Data Wrangling tool.
11. Select the Revenue by Opportunity table in the Preview screen, and then select
Wrangle… to open the Data Wrangling Tool.
Because the CEO of S&G only wants to see data from 2014 and 2015, we can filter the data from directly
within the Data Wrangler using the Timeline Selector tool.
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12. Click on the Close Date column and in the upper Select Function dropdown, select
Timeline Selector.
You will notice the Timeline Selector window shows below the data. This timeline shows the frequency of
opportunities (number of rows) that fall in a range of dates. The range starts from 2013 and ends in 2016,
denoted by the numbers below the graph.
Note: The Timeline Selector mimics the date format from the date data. In this dataset, the date attribute
is in a YYYY/MM/DD format, so 2013 03 14 is March 14th, 2013.
13. Pull the left and right sliders inward to only include dates in the 2014 to 2015 range. Your
Timeline Selector should look like the one below. Ensure your numeric dates match the
ones below.
You will notice the grid above dynamically changes based on the range of dates you select. For this
example, your dates should read 2014 01 12 and 2015 12 13, respectively.
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14. Click on the arrow next to Reset in the Timeline Selector. Choose [Delete Row Notincluded In Selectors] to filter the data to only include 2014 to 2015.
Ensure you have 173 rows of data displayed after using the Timeline Selector.
Note: To see subsequent sets of 50 rows of data, you can select Next or Previous from the data
wrangling navigation bar located at the bottom right of the data window.
If you take a look through your data in the wrangler, you can see that there are differences within the
country column. Some rows have USA and others have U.S.A. as well as United States. Because these
values should essentially be the same we can use the Text Selector to cluster them.
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15. Click on the Country column’s down arrow and select the Text Selector option.
TIP: The Text Selector tool allows users to bulk edit records in a column. It recognizes differences in
characters (USA vs. U.S.A. for example), and allows merging of similar selections. This tool is extremely
useful when dealing with large amounts of data that have minor inconsistencies.
16. From the Country text selector box, click the down arrow and select Cluster and Edit.
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17. From the Cluster & Edit window, click on the Merge checkbox and rename the New Cell
Value to display United States. Click Merge and Close to merge the USA and U.S.A.
values to display United States.
Looking through the city column you will find that there are two rows with lowercase “denver” rather than
the correct capitalized version, “Denver.” We can change this using a similar process from above.
18. In the City column, open the Text Selector box by clicking on the down arrow. Edit the
denver (LOWERCASE) value to display Denver (CAPITALIZED).
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TIP: MicroStrategy utilizes an auto-predict feature that automatically recognizes similar values in a
column. This feature is useful when you have a large number of records that need to be changed
concurrently.
TIP: Because the data wrangling tool stores every action you take in a script, you can revert any changes
made. To do this, look at the History Script window in the top right of the Data Wrangler interface. You
can select individual changes to revert using the undo/redo buttons, revert the entire dataset, or simply
change the last action you performed. You can export your history script to a text file, and even import a
previously saved script to minimize time spent wrangling data.
To export your History Script, click the Export down arrow icon in the top right of the Wrangle Your
Data window.
You can either copy your history script onto your clipboard, or save it as a text file in a specified location
on your computer. This is an optional step for this lesson.
19. Click OK in the bottom right of the Wrangle Your Data interface to return to the Preview
window.
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Prepare your data
The data you’re trying to import needs to be cleaned up with correct formatting before you can start
properly visualizing it. Since different people contributed to the data you will find some columns named
differently throughout the file. You will now fix this in order to properly link the data.
20. With the Revenue by Opportunity table selected, double click on the Close Date
column header in the Preview screen, and rename it to Date. Press Enter on your
keyboard and you will be prompted with a notification.
21. Since there is another attribute in the Revenue Goal table called Date, MicroStrategy
automatically recognizes that the attribute may be the same across tables. Click on Map?
to map Date.
TIP: After MicroStrategy maps attributes a small link icon
are essentially the same attributes across different tables.
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appears next to them. This indicates they
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22. In the Preview window, click on All Objects View... in the top right of the screen.
23. In the All Objects View drag the attribute Number of Leads to the Metrics section to
convert it into a metric. Select Close to return to the Preview window. Notice how
Number of Leads is now a metric in the table Opportunities by Date.
24. Click Finish to exit the Preview window.
Refine your data
Now that you have sanitized your data, you will need to create a visualization that allows the CEO to
analyze the data at a digestible level. He asks that you restrict the U.S. data to the operating years of
2014 and 2015. In addition, he would only like to see opportunities that have a status of closed.
Before you start, take a moment to save your dashboard.
25. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
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26. In the file explorer, navigate to the Desktop and save your dashboard as “Data
Discovery Data Preparation Workshop”. This file is now a shareable MicroStrategy file
(.mstr extension).
TIP: When you save your dashboard as a MicroStrategy file (.mstr extension), the entire dashboard,
including visualizations, filters, and data cubes, is exported. You can share this file with other
MicroStrategy Desktop users, who can import it into their own MicroStrategy Desktop environment t o
review, modify, or create new visualizations based on the data you share with them. Feel free to save
your dashboard at any point using the Save button.
MicroStrategy has two different views to display the attributes and metrics within a dataset. The Flat view
displays all the attributes and metrics at one time, and does not separate them by table. The Table view
breaks the display down by each imported table. The view you choose is up to user preference. For this
lesson, we will display the datasets in Table View.
27. Select the down arrow adjacent to the Dashboard Datasets pane and choose
Table View.
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28. Right click on the Date attribute under Revenue Goal and select Create Time
Attributes. Check Year and Month of Year then select OK.
TIP: MicroStrategy enables creation of time attributes on the fly without manually transforming attributes.
Notice how the original attribute name still appears on the newly created time attributes to show they
have been automatically derived.
29. Drag the Country attribute and the newly created Date(Year) and Date(Month of Year)
attributes to the visualization window. Your grid should look similar to the one below:
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30. Drag the Revenue and Revenue Goal metrics to the Metrics section in the Editor Tab.
31. Select the Filter Tab, and drag the Date(Year) attribute onto the filter tab. A slider should
display as below:
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32. Drag the sliders to display 2014 and 2015 only.
33. Add the Opportunity Forecast Category attribute to the Filter Tab by dragging and
dropping it below the Date(Year) filter.
34. Uncheck all of the choices until Closed is the only option selected.
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Your grid should look similar to the one below:
Visualize your data
To display your U.S. data more aesthetically, you can use a combination chart. Combination charts are
useful when you have two different metrics that you want to compare over a set of attributes.
35. In the upper right corner of the visualization, click on the down arrow that appears when
you hover your mouse over the area. Select Change Visualization and then
Combo Chart.
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36. In the Editor Tab, drag Metric Names from the Vertical section into the Horizontal
section. Ensure the Metric Names object is also in the Color By Section. MicroStrategy
will “copy” this object and create a duplicate. Your Editor Tab should look similar to the
one below:
37. Right-click on the Revenue Goal metric and select Change Shape and then Circle. This
will make the Goal metric stand out from the Revenue metric. Alternatively, you can right click on any of the Revenue Goal vertical bars and change the shape to the circle type.
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38. To get both Revenue and Revenue Goal on the same axis and compare them at the
same level, right click on the Revenue Goal metric and select Left Axis.
39. Right-click on any circle in the visualization and select Shape->Fill->Color and select an
Orange color.
40. Rename your visualization from Visualization 1 to United States Revenue vs. Goal. Do
this by double-clicking on the header, and typing the new title.
Your visualization should resemble the one below:
41. Save your dashboard by clicking on the Save icon.
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Visualize your data, part II
To get a better picture of how many Leads your business received each day over 2014 and 2015 you will
use a D3 Calendar Visualization. This visualization arranges values in colored cells per day. Days are
arranged into columns by week, and then grouped by month and years. It is useful for identifying trends of
data over time. D3 is a JavaScript library for manipulating documents with a data-driven approach. To use
the custom D3 visualization you will need to import it.
42. Click on the + icon at the bottom of the Visualization Gallery and then Import
Visualization. The File Explorer will display. Navigate to the MstrVisD3Calendar.zip
file, located in the folder you extracted the provided workshop files into.
43. After you have the file selected, click Open. The .zip file will automatically be extracted to
the appropriate MicroStrategy folders for immediate use. A D3 Calendar icon should
display on the right side toolbar in the Visualization Gallery. The icon should look similar
to the one below.
Note: The Calendar Widget only uses the U.S. date format. If you are in an international city, you should
change the date format by navigating under Preferences and select English (US) for language.
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44. Insert a new visualization using the steps from earlier. With the new visualization
selected, click on the D3 Calendar icon from the right side toolbar.
45. Drag the Day attribute to the Attributes section in the Editor Tab. Then, drag the
Number of Leads metric to the Metrics section. Both objects can be found in the
Opportunities by Date table.
46. Rename this visualization Opportunities by Day.
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Your D3 Calendar should look similar to the one below:
47. You can click and drag on the header of a visualization to freely move it around the
dashboard. You can see a blue preview line while dragging the visualization, which
shows the position where the currently selected dashboard will move to. Try to move the
D3 Calendar visualization below the Combination Chart.
When you are finished, your entire dashboard should look similar to the one below:
Connect to your data, part II
The first dataset provides valuable information on S&G’s revenue and revenue goals over time, but does
not lend itself well to looking outward at other regions’ performance. The sales manager has access to
international data but it is stored in a Google Drive folder. The manager gives you the credentials to
import this data to your dashboard.
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48. Add a new table to your existing dataset by selecting the drop down arrow next to the
table summary and selecting Edit Dataset....
49. Click Add a new table and then select Google Drive from the Connect to Your Data
wizard.
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50. Sign in to Dropbox with the following credentials:
Username: [email protected]
Password: mstr2016
51. If you are prompted with an Account Permissions screen, select Allow.
52. Click on the Data Preparation folder and then drag and drop the WorldRevenue.xlsx
file to the window on the right. Then, click Add.
53. Click on Update Dataset to import the WorldRevenue.xlsx file into your project.
Note: If you can’t connect to the internet, please use the local file included in the Supporting Files for
Data Import.
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Refine your data, part III
Because you want to separate the first two visualizations you produced without c reating an entire new
.mstr file, you can utilize an additional sheet. Sheets allow you to create multiple dashboards using the
same imported datasets, all in a single MicroStrategy file.
54. On the bottom of the interface to the right of the All Objects option, double-click on the
Sheet 1 tab and rename it to United States Revenue Analysis.
55. Create another sheet by selecting the plus icon next to the sheet tab you just renamed.
Rename this new sheet World Profit Analysis.
56. Right-click on the Amount metric in the WorldRevenue dataset and select Rename.
Rename this metric to Country Revenue.
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57. To analyze the international data at an additional level, create a new metric called Profit
by right clicking any metric and selecting Create Metric… Rename this new metric Profit
and type the formula ([Country Revenue] – Costs) in the Formula Editor. Validate the
metric and then click Save.
58. Right click the Month attribute in the WorldRevenue.xlsx dataset and select Create
Time Attributes. Check Quarter to create this new attribute, and click OK.
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Visualize your data, part III
Although a combination chart does a good job displaying multiple metrics over a set of attributes, there
are other visualizations that are better for comparisons on a larger scale. You would like to show the CEO
how the firm’s regions are performing in terms of profit and amount of revenue. You can use a Bubble
Chart to display this data.
59. With the World Profit Analysis sheet selected, click on the Bubble Chart quick icon on
the right side toolbar.
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60. With the visualization still selected, drag Country Revenue to the Vertical section in the
Editor Tab. Then, drag Month(Quarter) to the Horizontal section. Add World Country
(from the WorldRevenue.xlsx dataset) to the Color By section and finally, add the
Profit metric you created earlier to the Size By section. Your Editor Tab should look
similar to the one below.
61. Change the Number Format of the Profit metric to Currency by right-clicking on it in the
Size By section of the Editor Tab. Ensure there are no decimals displayed.
62. Rename the Bubble Chart visualization to World Revenue vs. Profit.
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Your Bubble Chart should look similar to the one below:
This visualization graphs each country’s revenue as an individually colored bubble over each quarter in
2015. The relative bubble size is determined by each country’s profit. You can hover over each bubble to
see a detailed tooltip.
Note: If the World Country legend is not displaying the country names, click on the small arrow on the top
of the legend to expand it.
As you can see, because of the large number of countries in the visualization, some of them are difficult
to view. We can make the bubble chart easier to analyze by using custom groups.
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63. On the bubble chart, while holding the Ctrl key (Command +Shift keys for Macs), click on
the Japan and Taiwan bubbles. These are the two top-most bubbles in the first column
(Q1, 2015).
64. With both countries still selected, right-click inside either bubble and choose Group and
World Country.
65. Name this custom group Asia and click Save.
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66. Right-click on the custom group bubble Asia that you have just created and select Edit
Group…
67. In the Group Editor window select the X button.
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68. Click on Add a Group and name this group North America. Drag and drop Canada,
Mexico and United States from the left column into the right column to add them to the
North America group. Select the checkmark to confirm the group.
69. Create two more groups using the same process as above. Name one group EMEA and
include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and United Kingdom. Name the
other group Central/South America and include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, and Ecuador. The Group Editor should look similar to the image below.
Click Save when you are done.
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TIP: Custom groups are useful when you have a large number of similar items that can be combined into
a single association. Countries by continent, months by seasons or cities by region all make for effective
custom groups.
Your visualization should look similar to the one below:
In MicroStrategy Desktop, users can freely move the dashboard objects around and dynamically change
their size. The key to a visually appealing, effective dashboard is making the data “digestible” for each
individual user. Each visualization should clearly show the data in a concise manner.
As you can see, two of the custom groups we created may have a similar color scheme, making it difficult
to see the difference between the two groups. We will fix this by changing the shape color.
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70. Right click on the group bubble you would like to change and select Change Shape
Color, then choose a color not used previously on the bubble chart.
Your bubble chart should now look similar to the one below:
To make the dashboard more specific to your business, you can add South & Group’s logo United States
Revenue Analysis go to the dashboard.
Note: Ensure you select the United States Revenue Analysis sheet before moving forward.
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71. To add the South & Group Consulting logo to the dashboard, select the United States
Revenue Analysis sheet (containing the combination chart and D3 visualization) and
select Insert from the top toolbar and then Image.
In the Image URL box, enter the following URL:
http://tinyurl.com/southgroup16
Press OK when you have entered the location and the image will be loaded into your
visualization. You can change the size of the image by dragging the image edges to the
desired height and length. You can also right-click on the image and select Format which
will enable you to change the dimensions in the Properties Tab.
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72. You can move each visualization by clicking and dragging the header above the
visualization and dropping it in the desired position. Try to make your United States
Revenue Analysis sheet and World Profit Analysis sheet dashboards look like the
ones below:
United States Revenue Analysis Sheet:
World Profit Analysis Sheet:
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Share your dashboard
Now that you have created a dashboard and analyzed the data, it can be shared by an unlimited number
of individuals, using a number of different formats.
73. To share your dashboard, you can export the dashboard as an image or PDF. Click on
File, Export, Image. You can select the file path and name the file to your choosing. The
saved image or PDF can be now shared via e-mail.
74. Your dashboard file can also be accessed from the file location where you saved it
earlier. You can now share this with other MicroStrategy Desktop 10 users.
TIP: You may export your dashboards in either PDF or Image file formats. Both formats can be shared via
e-mail, but the choice is completely up to the user. After exporting to an Image or PDF, you may also print
the dashboard to have physical copies of it. When sharing, keep in mind who your end-viewers will be to
best present your insights.
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