KB20582: "Argument data type numeric is invalid for argument 2 of substring function." error message appears when attempting to use the SUBSTRING function against a Warehouse with MicroStrategy

SYMPTOM:
 
Users receive an error message when attempting to use the SUBSTRING function against a SQL Server Warehouse.
Consider the following metric definition that uses the SubStr function:

Formula: SubStr(Max(Country@DESC) {~} , 1, 4)
Level: Report
Condition: Nothing
Transformation: Nothing
However, when using this metric on a report, users receive the following error message:

Error: SQL Generation Complete
QueryEngine encountered error: Execute Query failed. Error type: Odbc error. Odbc operation attempted: SQLExecDirect. Argument data type numeric is invalid for argument 2 of substring function.
Error in Process method of Component: QueryEngineServer, Project Strategy Tutorial, Job 4040, Error Code= -2147212544.

CAUSE:
 
Notice in the SQL below (from the report above) that the precision of the SUBSTRING Metric has been changed from '1' to '1.0' and '4' to '4.0':
select a11."COUNTRY_ID" COUNTRY_ID,
a11."COUNTRY_NAME" CUST_COUNTRY_DESC,
SUBSTRING(a11."COUNTRY_NAME", 1.0, 4.0) WJXBFS1
from "LU_COUNTRY" "a11"
 
ACTION:

• Open the Metric with SubStr function in the Metric Editor and go to Tools > Advanced Settings > VLDB Properties.
• Expand the "Metrics" folder and click on the "Integer Constant in Metric" option.
• Uncheck the "Use default inherited value" and click the bullet option titled "Do not add '.0' to integer constants in metric expressions" so that the SQL Engine does not use the extra .0 in the expression:
  

• Re-execute the report and the correct results will be displayed: