Let's Talk : Strategy Developer™

• Published on July 1, 2014

Len OToole

The Strategy Business Intelligence Reporting Suite has many desktop components, which can be quite confusing to new users of the tool set. Even though there is some great in-depth product documentation out there, I still feel a series of quick posts on this topic is in order. Over the coming weeks, I'll endeavour to quickly explain what each tool does and the audience each is best suited for.
Today I will concentrate on the most important and most used tool - Strategy Developer™ / Strategy Desktop™

WHO USES Strategy DEVELOPER™ ?

Previously known as Strategy Desktop™ and only recently re-branded as Strategy Developer™ this tool is the mainstay of Developers, Administrators, Architects, Power Users, Analysts and Report Consumers - pretty much every category of Strategy user. 
 

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Developer does almost everything. It's the core tool in the Strategy tool-set and has been for a long time.
Different user groups have different needs, so I will address each individually

• Strategy Developers use it as their primary development tool (see notes on the Web Development Environment). With it, they build reports, documents and dashboards using a drag & drop interface to place pre-built Attributes & Metrics on to their report templates. Styling of the finished template is also possible as is the ability to view and execute the underlying SQL that is auto-generated by Developer / Desktop. Once finalised, the new report can be set up to auto-run on a scheduled basis 
  
  More advanced usage would include setting up Prompts, Filters, Metrics, Custom Groups, Consolidations, Sourcing From In-Memory Cubes etc...
   
• Strategy Administrators use the Developer tool as their primary tool to perform the most common Administrative tasks. These would include building, configuring and tuning the Intelligence Server & associated Projects. On the Intelligence Server side: common settings would include Governing Rules; Memory Allocations; Projects available on the IServer; Clustering settings for multiple IServers. On a project level, settings that would be administered in Developer would include: Database Instances, Project Governing Rules, Caching Rules and In-Memory Cube settings. 
  
   
• Strategy Architects also use Developer as their primary tool. In order to enable the Architect functionality within the Developer tool, you must install the Architect software that comes as part of the main setup software. If this isn't installed, you will not be able to access any Architect functionality. 
  
  Architects use the Developer tool to perform all the required maintenance tasks for the Metadata layer. Tasks would include setting up new Attributes, Importing new source tables from the Warehouse or Data Mart layer; Building Transformations; Facts; Logical Views / Tables; Partition Mappings; Building Hierarchies and relationships between all the Attributes etc...
  
   
• Strategy Power Users & Analysts use the Developer tool to execute reports and dashboards created by the Strategy Development Team. They can also interact with the reporting objects (Attributes, Metrics etc) and manipulate the reports to better suit their requirements. 
  
   
• Basic Report Consumers use the Developer tool to execute static and pre-configured prompted reports. Pretty straight forward - as it should be.

NOTES

One of the great features of Strategy Developer is its ability to satisfy the needs of multiple disparate groups of users. On the flip side, this also leads to a highly complex tool that has an appropriately steep learning curve associated with it.
In recent years, there has been a sustained transition of functionality from the Thick Client software to the web based development environment. For Analysts and Power Users, most of their functionality is finding its way on to the web tool. For Developers, the web based tools are very impressive. Personally, I love the Web Based IDE and at every opportunity endeavor to use it where possible in place of the Developer / Desktop tool.
Something to watch out for - due to the fact that not all Thick Client functionality exists in the Web Development environment, one must keep the Desktop software close to hand so that you can perform tasks that are not yet possible in Web. It's a little painful, but it works. I am hoping that Strategy can keep transitioning functionality out of the Developer tool. Ultimately, I would like to see the Developer tool be an Administrator / Architect only tool with all developers and other users confined to the web IDE. It would lead to a more cohesive experience rather than the current fragment experience of using two development tools.

NEXT TIME...

That just about wraps up my personal overview of the Strategy Developer™ / Desktop™ thick client software. In my upcoming posts, I will spend some time explaining the use cases for Strategy Command Manager™, Strategy Integrity Manager™ and Strategy Object Manager™
Why not click on the FOLLOW ME button and you won't miss it when I publish it.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post!!
Len O'Toole
Founder And Chief Consultant at Mobile BI Consulting
www.Mobile-BI.ie