Hands-On MicroStrategy Training

A progressive, lab-based training course for building interactive dashboards and analytics dossiers in MicroStrategy Workstation. Each lab introduces new concepts while reinforcing skills from previous exercises, taking you from your first visualization to multi-chapter audit dashboards.

Prerequisites

• MicroStrategy Workstation installed locally (desktop application) or access via the MicroStrategy web interface
• No prior MicroStrategy experience required — Lab 1 starts from scratch
• Basic familiarity with spreadsheet data (rows, columns, data types) is helpful

Course Outline

Lab 1 — Building Your First Analytics Dossier

Domain	Barcelona Airbnb market analysis
Dataset	Barcelona Airbnb Data.xlsx (single file)
What You Build	A single-page dossier with map visualizations, charts, and KPIs

Skills introduced: MicroStrategy Workstation setup, importing data from disk, classifying attributes and metrics, building map visualizations (latitude/longitude), KPI cards, bar charts, filtering, and basic formatting.

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Lab 2 — Gold Historical Data Analysis

Domain	Gold price performance
Dataset	gold_historical_data.csv (single file)
What You Build	A self-directed performance dashboard

Skills introduced: Working with time-series data, line charts, self-directed dashboard design. This lab is intentionally less prescriptive — you apply what you learned in Lab 1 with minimal hand-holding.

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Lab 3 — Multi-Dataset Pizza Analytics Dashboard

Domain	Pizza restaurant operations
Datasets	pizzas.csv, pizza_types.csv, orders.csv, order_details.csv
What You Build	A comprehensive analytics dashboard combining four related datasets

Skills introduced: Importing multiple datasets, data wrangling (duplicate columns, find-and-replace), multi-form attributes, dataset linking via shared keys, derived metrics with the Formula Editor, ranking, and filtering.

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Lab 4 — Internal Audit Exception Dashboard

Domain	Internal audit — procurement, HR/payroll, and payment exceptions
Datasets	procurement_audit.csv, hr_employees.csv, hr_payroll.csv, payment_transactions.csv
What You Build	A 3-chapter dossier surfacing audit red flags with color-coded grids

Skills introduced: Multi-chapter dossier design, conditional formatting on grids (color-coding rows by severity), text visualizations, visualization-level filters, derived attributes (bucketing numeric fields), conditional derived metrics with If().

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Lab 5 — Expense & Travel Compliance Dashboard

Domain	Expense reports, corporate card monitoring, and travel compliance
Datasets	expense_reports.csv, corporate_card.csv, travel_bookings.csv
What You Build	A 3-chapter compliance dashboard identifying policy violations and fraud risks

Skills introduced: Multi-level conditional formatting (red/orange/yellow), OR-condition visualization filters, dataset linking across chapters, derived metrics with arithmetic ((Claimed - Standard) * Nights), derived attributes with Case() for rate variance bucketing.

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Repository Structure

Lab 1/
  Lab 1 Instructions.MD        # Step-by-step walkthrough
  Lab 1 Instructions.pdf        # PDF version
  Barcelona Airbnb Data.xlsx    # Dataset
  Airbnb Dashboard.mstr         # Completed dossier (MicroStrategy export)
  images/                       # Screenshots referenced by instructions

Lab 2/
  README.md                     # Brief instructions
  gold_historical_data.csv      # Dataset

Lab 3/
  Lab3 instructions.md          # Step-by-step walkthrough
  datasets/                     # 4 CSV files
  images/                       # Screenshots

Lab 4/
  Lab4 Instructions.md          # Step-by-step walkthrough
  Lab4 Instructions.pdf         # PDF version
  Data Dictionary.md            # Column-level documentation for all datasets
  Internal Audit Reports.mstr   # Completed dossier (MicroStrategy export)
  datasets/                     # 4 CSV files
  images/                       # Screenshots

Lab 5/
  Lab5 Instructions.md          # Step-by-step walkthrough
  Data Dictionary.md            # Column-level documentation for all datasets
  datasets/                     # 3 CSV files

How to Use This Course

1. Work through the labs in order. Each lab builds on skills from the previous one. Lab 1 covers setup and fundamentals; Lab 5 assumes comfort with everything before it.

2. Follow the instructions alongside MicroStrategy Workstation. Open the Markdown (or PDF) instructions and work through each numbered step. The instructions include exact field names, formula syntax, and formatting details.

3. Datasets are ready to use. All CSV and Excel files can be imported directly into MicroStrategy — no data preparation is needed outside the tool.

4. .mstr files are reference solutions. Where provided, these are exported MicroStrategy dossiers showing the completed dashboard. You can import them to see the finished product, but the learning value comes from building it yourself.

Skills Progression

Skill	Lab 1	Lab 2	Lab 3	Lab 4	Lab 5
Import data from disk	x	x	x	x	x
Classify attributes & metrics	x	x	x	x	x
KPI cards	x		x	x	x
Bar & horizontal bar charts	x		x	x	x
Map visualizations	x
Line charts		x	x	x
Multiple datasets			x	x	x
Dataset linking			x	x	x
Data wrangling			x
Multi-form attributes			x
Derived metrics (If())			x	x	x
Multi-chapter dossiers				x	x
Conditional formatting				x	x
Text visualizations				x	x
Visualization-level filters				x	x
Derived attributes (Case())				x	x