Good morning and again, as every time, welcome to #BestInMicro! Our corner of tricks, ideas, learning and experiences in the magical and fascinating world of consulting.
This article comes hand in hand with an ‘error’ that was reported, but more than an error, it was how it should be working, so there is no better idea than to share this experience with you. Today I am going to teach you: Dynamic Sourcing.
One of the biggest challenges when using BI tools (we are talking in generalized terms) is the speed of response. We can make the most amazing dashboard with the best graphs, but if this report takes more than a few seconds, users get impatient. This is why there are different methods of report optimization, as I have already explained in articles such as Caching vs History List or cache types. So, coming to our topic of the day…
Situation/context: On a very ordinary day, an error occurred indicating that, for some reports that we wanted to run, the resulting information was not up to date. After reviewing and disabling cache, the problem persisted, and it was not understood what was happening with the data. This is where the magic of this functionality comes in.
What is Dynamic Sourcing and what is its purpose?
Dynamic Sourcing acts as a shortcut, allowing regular reports to be run on a published Intelligent Cube without manual selection (i.e. automatically). In other words, if we have this functionality enabled, a report will look for information from a cube that has the same (or more) dimensions, filters and attributes published.
In which situations is it appropriate to use Dynamic Sourcing?
It is recommended when the data is constant, relatively static and an Intelligent Cube can reliably meet the requirements, on the contrary, it is not suitable when constantly updated data is required or when the reports are so specific that they do not align with the available Intelligent Cubes. Let’s see, it’s easy: If you are not careful that the cubes are updated with the same frequency as the database (in case you are interested in having the information updated at the time of running the report), this functionality is not for you.
In addition, there are some limitations to keep in mind. You cannot combine data from multiple Intelligent Cubes into one report, and some MicroStrategy functionality may be incompatible.
Let’s make a comparison chart:
Additional considerations:
Conclusion:
Dynamic Sourcing is a valuable tool for reports that rely on stable data, offering an efficient and automated solution. However, it is important to recognize its limitations and evaluate whether it fits the specific needs of each report. When implemented correctly, it can be a key component for agile and efficient reporting in the enterprise environment.
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