KB11572: Metrics using a time format with milliseconds always display zeroes for the fractional part

SYMPTOM:
A user creates a metric to display a time value (e.g., elapsed time), and wants to see hours, minutes, seconds and milliseconds. The following custom formatting string is applied:
 
:mm:ss.000

 
Note: The available syntax for custom formatting strings is described in the Advanced Reporting PDF manual, in the section Metrics > Formatting metrics > Number display codes.
 
When executing the report, however, the fractional part of the second always displays as zero:

 
Note: Examples in this article are taken from the Enterprise Manager project; however, the issue may occur in any Strategy project.
 
CAUSE:
This is a known issue in Strategy.
 
Strategy licenses grid display controls from a third-party vendor, and these controls do not support the display of fractional parts of a second.
 
WORKAROUND:
If it is not necessary to see hours, minutes and seconds, multiply the metric value by 86400 (the number of seconds in a day) and format the metric with fixed decimal precision. The metric will then display the time value in seconds, down to whatever precision is set in the formatting dialog.
 
Alternately, if the hours/minutes display is needed, a pair of metrics may be used: one to display hours, minutes, and the other to display seconds with the fractional part.
 

• Format the elapsed time metric for hours and minutes (with no seconds). Use this metric on the report as before:
  

• Create a second metric, using the following as the formula. The formula converts the metric value (which is calculated as a fraction of a day) into seconds, then uses the modulo function to obtain the remainder when dividing the number of seconds by 60.
  Mod(( * 86400), 60)
  

• Format the metric to a fixed decimal place display, with as many places of precision as desired:
  

• Using the two metrics side-by-side on the report will display the milliseconds. In this case, the hours/minutes metric is always zero because none of the report jobs took longer than a minute (compare to the report screen shot above).
  

If OLAP Services are available, the second/milliseconds metric may be created as a derived metric using the same formula as above.