Hello everyone, dear team! How are we? Ready for a new chapter of this #BestInMicro section? Today I am going to write an article aimed at the administrators of those eternal projects that gather junk and obsolete objects as if there was no tomorrow. So, ladies and gentlemen, today I bring you… 5 tips to perform an object cleanup in MicroStrategy.
As we already know (and if you don’t know I will tell you), MicroStrategy’s great differential compared to the other visualization tools is its semantic layer: the possibility of creating objects that will later be used to create reports and documents (i.e., we create objects to create more objects).
But of course, we all know that in the long run, if it is not done in a relatively controlled way, it is inevitable. There will always be a ‘backup’ folder from 5 years ago, test indicators, obsolete models and objects that are no longer used, and little by little, it ends up accumulating chaos.
So here are 5 things you can do to start cleaning out old objects.
1. List the reports/documents that have not been executed for X months/years
This is very simple. Using Enterprise manager or Platform analytics (I am assuming you have it enabled. If not, I recommend it!) you can create reports where you can analyze the last execution or job of a report or document, even filtering by a prudent period (for example, that it has not been executed for more than 6 months). If you come across a report whose last execution is from 2012… well, there you have a great candidate to be deleted.
2. List the Objects without dependencies
All MicroStrategy application objects (except dossiers, documents and reports) must be included in the ones just mentioned to be used. If we have an indicator that has no dependencies, it means that it is not being used. Attention, this does not indicate that it is obsolete, but it happens regularly when test objects are created, or when directories or objects are detected that are already old and will not be used.
To do this, I will show you a very useful and somewhat hidden functionality: did you know that with object manager you can search for objects without dependencies? Even filter by date, type, owner, etc.!
3. List the folders/objects named ‘delete’, ‘test’ or ‘backup’
It may sound logical, but if I include it here it is for a reason. Often directories are created for the sole purpose of storing objects that are of no interest and then they are not deleted. The same goes for old backups or very old versions.
4. List old Objects in personal folders
Often, a lot of tests or objects that are no longer in use can be stored in personal folders. Even worse, objects that should not be there. It is never a bad practice to review these objects.
5. Review personal folders of non-existent users
When a user is removed or disabled, it is good practice to keep their personal folders. As above, a review of these folders and their contents can be beneficial when cleaning up objects.
6. Use Delete Unused Managed Objects
This functionality is well oriented to a maintenance task and is given when using Freeform SQL reports. These are objects that are created and have no reference, so they cannot be used (nor are they visible, so they are literally junk.) With this functionality, you can do a sweep of these objects.
Note that at no point I said delete or remove, but these tips are to list and detect objects that generate noise in the metadata and in the projects. It is very important that you make backups of metadata before doing a large mass deletion, or even create command manager packages to restore unintentionally deleted objects.
Anyway, I hope you found it useful, if you think of anything else, do not hesitate to comment and I will be waiting you for the next article!
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