KB228169: How to troubleshoot issues found on MicroStrategy Mobile

Summary
The scope of this technical note is to provide administrators and end users a central repository of resources for troubleshooting issues found in Strategy Mobile on the iOS platform.  Such resources include: troubleshooting methodology, troubleshooting steps, and links to various technical notes explaining how to gather various logs and details for the various troubleshooting options.  Utilizing these resources, users may be able to better troubleshoot, understand, and resolve issues on their own or with Strategy Technical Support’s assistance.
Symptom
A user encounters an issue and/or an error message in Strategy Mobile 9.x and 10.x.
Methodology
This section is to provide a high level overview of the mobile troubleshooting methodology to better zero in on root cause to search for resolution options. The overall methodology revolves around first finding the steps to reproduce the issue, testing if the issue can be reproduced with said steps, and then observing the various behaviors as further tests are performed.  This is because an issue that can be reproduced can be studied and observed in various aspects to see how it behaves with different actions performed.  An issue that cannot be reproduced cannot really be troubleshot by conventional means since the behavior of the issue cannot be studied easily; this usually results in theoretical explanations as to why the issue may have occurred because no further evidence for or against the theory can really be provided since the issue does not reproduce in order to put the hypothesis to the test.  This is why reproducing an issue is paramount to the troubleshooting process.
 

1. Confirm if the issue is encountered all the time with the same steps
   
• Reproducing the issue on demand with exact step-by-step instructions is critical to understanding the issue’s behavior, which helps to formulate resolution options
2. Record the steps that reproduce the issue 100% of the time or note if the issue is intermittent
   
• Steps to reproduce should be very specific step-by-step instructions to see the issue
• Every time an option is clicked, folder is navigated, or task is performed, then a step should be noted
3. Confirm the type of mobile application the issue appears on – out-of-the-box (OOTB), re-branded, or custom
4. Isolate the issue to the OOTB Strategy Mobile app if it appears on a re-branded or custom app using the steps recorded in Step 2
   
• Issue needs to be isolated to OOTB Strategy Mobile to rule out customizations as a problem in a re-branded or custom app scenario
5. Collect Mobile logs if further troubleshooting is necessary, and review for underlying errors when issue is reproduced
   
• If the issue cannot be resolved by options or workarounds discovered by testing different behaviors in the various editors in Strategy, then perhaps the issue is more on the backend
6. Collect details on Mobile configuration if issue appears to be more configuration specific
   
• Some issues can be related to unsupported/uncertified configurations, or related to 3rdparty interactions like mobile servers

Before You Begin
Screenshots can instantly convey a message that could take paragraphs to explain with text.  Therefore, many times Strategy Technical Support will request screenshots of each step to reproduce an issue, screenshots of an error message, or just screenshots of the general scenario to see what the end user sees in order to better understand the issue.  Taking screenshots in mobile isn’t very cumbersome, but can vary in method by device.  Here are some videos that illustrate the process:
Screenshots from the Strategy Mobile Header Bar:
Within a report/document/dashboard:

1. Open the menu with the ellipses icon at the top right, and select the Annotate option or icon.

1. Click on the Share option or icon.

1. Select Email

Screenshots from iOS Device:
The following Apple tech note discusses how to do this:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200289
A quick way to do this is to simultaneously hold down the Power and Home buttons on an iOS device to take a screenshot.  This is depicted in the diagram below: 

Determining the version of the mobile device, operating system, and Strategy Mobile is important for checking if the specific configuration is supported or certified by Strategy, as well as helpful in determining what type of setup should be used to test reproducing an issue.  Here are some videos that illustrate the process:
Strategy Mobile Application:

1. Navigate to the Settings button.

1. In the Settings page, click the About button.

1. Look for the build number in the About section in Strategy Mobile. 

iOS Device and Software:

• Find device serial number main
  
• http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT1349
• Find iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch serial number
  
• http://support.apple.com/en-us/ht4061
• iPhone model number information
  
• http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201296
• Find iOS software version
  
• http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201685

Steps to Troubleshoot
Administrators have more tools to work with when troubleshooting issues in Strategy Mobile than an end user, however collaboration between an administrator trying to resolve an issue, and an end user who originally experienced the issue is very helpful.  Here are some initial steps to follow:

• Details about the issue experienced and/or the exact error message encountered
• Screenshots of the issue experienced and/or the exact error message encountered
• Confirm if the issue occurs only once (intermittent issue) or consistently (re-occurring issue)
• Exact steps to reproduce the issue experienced and/or the exact error message encountered
• Screenshots of each step when reproducing the issue and/or the exact error message encountered
• Background and context information about the report/document/dashboard including definition information, prompt types and answers used, project and navigation pathway, etc.
• Using the Settings button in Mobile, a mobile device log can be collected after reproducing the issue with logging enabled

Additionally, an administrator may know whether the mobile application being used by their organization is OOTB Strategy Mobile, a re-branded, or custom application.  This becomes important when troubleshooting issues that appear in the mobile application because issues that appear in a re-branded or custom app can be the result of conflicts with customizations using SDK.  Here is a clarification on these terms:

• An out-of-the-box (OOTB) Strategy Mobile application is the Strategy Mobile app that is downloaded directly from the Apple App Store or Google Play and used in its standardized form.
• A re-branded Strategy Mobile application is one that is downloaded from the Strategy Download Site in file form, customized with say a Company’s logo, compiled, and released either publically through the Apple App Store or Google Play with its own name, or privately through internal distribution.
• A custom mobile application is one that is coded and developed completely independent from Strategy, and may try to integrate with the Strategy application. Since Strategy did not develop the code for this type of mobile application, there are no guarantees it will work properly with our product.  This would most likely be released through private internal distributions, or publicly using its own name on the Apple App Store or Google Play.

To confirm an issue is Strategy-specific, and not a customization conflict with the app, then the issue will need to be reproducible from the OOTB Strategy Mobile app available on Apple App Store or Google Play.  This will be necessary if the issue is to be brought up with Strategy Technical Support because proven Strategy-specific issues can be troubleshot, but issues that are conflicts with customizations cannot be troubleshot.  Therefore, the next step:

• Confirm that the issue can be reproduced on OOTB Strategy Mobile

Issues that aren’t easily resolved from the report/document/dashboard editor, tech notes on the Community, or related to a specific object, might require additional digging with mobile logs.  There are a few logs which can be utilized for mobile troubleshooting:

• Mobile device log
• For Strategy Mobile in iOS, navigate to Settings, Logging section

• Set Level from WARNINGS to ALL

• Set Maximum Log Size (entries) to 9999 (to capture everything just in case)

• Reproduce the issue to capture the device logging
• After the issue has been captured by the device logs, navigate back to the Settings, Logging section
• Select View Log

• Email the log by hitting the email icon in the bottom right

• Mobile crash log (if applicable)
  
• http://community.microstrategy.com/t5/Mobile/KB33428-How-to-retrieve-the-Apple-generated-application-crash/ta-p/184199
• Kernel XML API Log
  
• Handled from Mobile Administrator page in Strategy Web:
  
• https://community.strategy.com/article/KB44935-How-to-enable-XML-API-logs-for-MicroStrategy-Mobile-9-x
• Fiddler Trace Log
  
• http://community.microstrategy.com/t5/Miscellaneous/KB38017-How-to-use-Fiddler-Web-Debugger-to-troubleshoot-iPad-and/ta-p/188200
• Mobile server logs (3rdparty, non-Strategy specific logs)
  
• The mobile server is the intermediary between the mobile device and the I Server, which hosts the StrategyMobile virtual directory
• The mobile server will be a 3rdparty’s software, and the specific logs for the mobile server will vary based on the mobile server type and version
  
• For example, Apache Tomcat 6.0 is Apache software, and not Strategy software, even if it integrates with Strategy software
• Refer to the 3rdparty’s documentation for your mobile server in order to determine where these logs will be found

If the issue appears to be more related to configuration problems, as in the actual setup of Strategy Mobile with the various components communicating with one another, or perhaps an issue with defining the mobile configuration from Mobile Administrator, then the following may be helpful to collect and provide to Strategy Technical Support:

• Collect the following configuration details:
  
• Strategy Platform version (Intelligence Server version/build number)
• Mobile Client version (Strategy Mobile version/build number)
• Mobile Device type and version
• Mobile Operating System type and version
• Mobile Server type and version

Check the Readme for your specific version, and verify if the configuration is listed with your various components and setup as either supported or certified.

• Open the Readme, most commonly found on a Windows machine via Start, Programs, Strategy Documentation, Readme

• Select Strategy Analytics Enterprise General Information

• Next, select Strategy Mobile

• Then select Certified and Supported Configurations to see what is certified and supported in terms of iOS devices, iOS software versions, and Mobile Servers.

For issues more related to the mobile configuration defined for your tablets or phones, then the following may be helpful from the Mobile Administrator page:

• Screenshots of each tab in the mobile configuration settings in Mobile Administrator may be helpful
  
• The mobile configuration should have 3 tabs -- Device Settings, Connectivity Settings, Home Screen, which are highlighted by red boxes below:

If after all the steps above have been taken, the issue is proven to be Strategy-specific, and the issue is still unable to be resolved or worked around, then provide all the information you’ve collected to Strategy Technical Support.  The description of the issue should be very specific based on the findings from the investigation, and should not be vague.  For example:

 
If all of the steps above have been followed, and all screenshots, logs, and details are provided to Strategy Technical Support, then this should result in much quicker times with narrowing down root cause and/or resolving a mobile issue.  This is because all the information has been previously collected from the individual’s independent investigation and initially provided to Strategy Technical Support for troubleshooting assistance.
Additional Information
Apple’s 64-bit and iOS 8 Requirements for New Apps
https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=10202014a
KB199366: Best practices to design or utilize mobile dashboards in offline mode in Strategy Mobile 9.4.1.
http://community.microstrategy.com/t5/Mobile/KB199366-Best-practices-to-design-or-utilize-mobile-dashboards/ta-p/199366