What do you do when a product is so new there is barely any support available to troubleshoot issues (bugs)?
We engaging clients who are very interested in implementing Performance Point Solutions within their business framework. They have SharePoint as a portal solution but PPS as a tool has not been completely tested with SharePoint. Basic SharePoint functionality is very straight forward but custom webparts always pose the challenge...what to do?
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
New Day for BI
After much dilberation, I have made a career move and joined Solver (www.solverusa.com) as Senior Business Consultant for the East. My very good buddy and new boss Scott Stein convienced me that it is EVERYTHING BI so here I go!
I will post more details as they happen....
I will post more details as they happen....
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Bill drops me a line...
From: Bill Gates [mailto:billgates@chairman.microsoft.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:04 PM
To: Joseph (BI Joe) Thomas
Subject: The Age of Software-Powered Communications
Joe, I know you've been working for 20 years or more, you can remember a time when the pace of business-and life in general-was quite a bit slower than it is today. Back then we read newspapers and magazines and watched the network news to stay informed. Faxes were just becoming a common way to share written business information. A phone call might elicit a busy signal or no one would answer at all. In those days, no one expected to send documents to coworkers on the other side of the globe instantly, collaborate in real-time with colleagues in distant cities, or share photographs the very day they were taken.
These and similar advances have delivered remarkable results. The ability to access and share information instantly and communicate in ways that transcend the boundaries of time and distance has given rise to an era of unprecedented productivity and innovation that has created new economic opportunities for hundreds of millions of people around the world and paved the way for global economic growth that is unparalleled in human history.
But few people would argue that there is no room for improvement. Although we have once-unimaginable access to people and information, we struggle today to keep track of emails and phone calls across multiple inboxes, devices, and phone numbers; to remember a growing number of passwords; and to synchronize contacts, appointments, and data between desktop PCs and mobile devices. The fact is that the proliferation of communications options has become a burden that often makes it more difficult to reach people than it used to be, rather than easier.
In 2006, I wrote about how unified communications innovations were already beginning to transform the way we communicate at work. Because you are a subscriber to executive emails from Microsoft, I want to provide you with an update on the progress we're making toward achieving our vision for unified communications. I also want to share my thoughts on how rapid advances in hardware, networks, and the software that powers them are laying the foundation for groundbreaking innovations in communications technology. These innovations will revolutionize the way we share information and experiences with the people who are important to us at work and at home, and help make it possible to put the power of digital technology in the hands of billions of people around the globe who have yet to reap the benefits of the knowledge economy.
Moving Beyond Disconnected Communications
A fundamental reason that communicating is still so complex is the fact that the way we communicate is still bound by devices. In the office, we use a work phone with one number. Then we ask people to call us back on a mobile device using another number when we are on the go, or reach us on our home phone with yet another number. And we have different identities and passwords for our work and home email accounts, and for instant messaging.
This will change in the very near future. As more and more of our communications and entertainment is transmitted over the Internet thanks to email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and other protocols, a new wave of software-driven innovations will eliminate the boundaries between the various modes of communications we use throughout the day. Soon, you'll have a single identity that spans all of the ways people can reach you, and you'll be able to move a conversation seamlessly between voice, text, and video and from one device to another as your location and information sharing needs change. You'll also have more control over how you can be reached and by whom: when you are busy, the software on the device at hand will know whether you can be interrupted, based on what you are doing and who is trying to reach you.
One of the best examples of how communication is changing-and how technology is integrating the way people share experiences across devices-starts in the world of video games. With Xbox Live, the online gaming and entertainment network for Xbox 360, people can play games with friends who are in distant locations. Xbox Live also provides a comprehensive range of communications options including video chat and instant messaging, as well as text, voice, and picture messaging, all seamlessly integrated into the video game experience. With more than 7 million subscribers, Xbox Live is quickly redefining the way people access entertainment of all kinds. And it is enabling them to share experiences with each other in real time without being constrained by the limits of location.
But that's just the start. We recently launched Games for Windows - Live, which links Xbox 360 gamers with the millions of people who play games on their PCs. Now, Windows and Xbox 360 video game players can compete and communicate with each other without being constrained by the limits of devices.
The communications expectations that young people-and anybody else who has adopted the latest digital communications tools-bring to the workplace are already changing how we do business. To them, the desk phone is an anachronism that lacks the flexibility and range of capabilities that their mobile device can provide. A generation that grew up on text messaging is driving the rapid adoption of instant messaging as a standard business communications tool. Accustomed to forming ad hoc virtual communities, they want tools that facilitate the creation of virtual workgroups. Used to collecting and storing information online, they look for team Web sites, Wikis, and other digital ways to create and share information.
All of these expectations are prompting companies to adapt by implementing new communications strategies and technologies. Those that do are already seeing a wide range of benefits including significant cost savings and important productivity gains. At Microsoft, for example, we replaced our old voice mail system with Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging, a move that is saving the company $5 million annually by lowering hardware and maintenance costs. More importantly, Exchange Server 2007 provides a software solution that enables integration of traditional telephone infrastructure and VoIP with corporate messaging, calendaring, and directories. This convergence of telephony and messaging increases employee productivity and decreases the administrative workload for IT professionals.
The Next Wave of Communications Technologies
Today in San Francisco, Microsoft is launching the next wave of enterprise VoIP and unified communications products for business. Among the products we'll launch are Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, which bring together a broad range of communications options including voice, instant messaging, and video into a single, consistent experience. Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator make it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate with each other in real-time by letting them see at a glance if the people they want to contact are available. They will also be able to initiate a conversation by email, voice, video, or instant messaging from within Microsoft Office system applications, making communication and collaboration an integral part of day-to-day work processes, rather than an interruption. In addition, when they use the new version of Office Communicator Mobile that is launching today, they will be able to stay connected using Windows Mobile-powered devices.
We're also announcing the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, an advanced video and VoIP conferencing device that provides a 360-degree view of a meeting room, along with wideband audio and video that tracks the flow of conversation between multiple speakers. With RoundTable and Office Live Meeting or Office Communications Server, meeting participants in different locations will be able to converse and share information as if they were in the same room. RoundTable also enables companies to record meetings for later use.
All of these products are important steps toward achieving our long-term vision for streamlined, integrated communications that will enable people to be more productive, more creative, and to stay in touch more easily without being limited by the device they have at hand or the network they are connected to.
A Foundation for Future Innovation
It would be hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are coming. Standardized, software-powered communications technologies will be the catalyst for the convergence of voice, video, text, applications, information, and transactions, making it possible to create a seamless communications continuum that extends across people's work and home lives. This will provide the foundation for new products, services, and capabilities that will change the world in profound and often unexpected ways.
This will happen not only in developed countries where access to digital technology is the norm, but also in emerging economies around the world. Currently, about 1 billion of us have a PC, just a fraction of the world's 6 billion people. As we make technology more accessible and simpler to use-often in the form of affordable mobile devices-we can extend new social and economic opportunities to hundreds of millions of people who have never been able to participate in the global knowledge economy. And as more and more of the world's people are empowered to use their ideas, talents, and hard work to the fullest, the results will be new innovations that make everyone's lives richer, more productive, and more fulfilling.
Your bud, Bill
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 1:04 PM
To: Joseph (BI Joe) Thomas
Subject: The Age of Software-Powered Communications
Joe, I know you've been working for 20 years or more, you can remember a time when the pace of business-and life in general-was quite a bit slower than it is today. Back then we read newspapers and magazines and watched the network news to stay informed. Faxes were just becoming a common way to share written business information. A phone call might elicit a busy signal or no one would answer at all. In those days, no one expected to send documents to coworkers on the other side of the globe instantly, collaborate in real-time with colleagues in distant cities, or share photographs the very day they were taken.
These and similar advances have delivered remarkable results. The ability to access and share information instantly and communicate in ways that transcend the boundaries of time and distance has given rise to an era of unprecedented productivity and innovation that has created new economic opportunities for hundreds of millions of people around the world and paved the way for global economic growth that is unparalleled in human history.
But few people would argue that there is no room for improvement. Although we have once-unimaginable access to people and information, we struggle today to keep track of emails and phone calls across multiple inboxes, devices, and phone numbers; to remember a growing number of passwords; and to synchronize contacts, appointments, and data between desktop PCs and mobile devices. The fact is that the proliferation of communications options has become a burden that often makes it more difficult to reach people than it used to be, rather than easier.
In 2006, I wrote about how unified communications innovations were already beginning to transform the way we communicate at work. Because you are a subscriber to executive emails from Microsoft, I want to provide you with an update on the progress we're making toward achieving our vision for unified communications. I also want to share my thoughts on how rapid advances in hardware, networks, and the software that powers them are laying the foundation for groundbreaking innovations in communications technology. These innovations will revolutionize the way we share information and experiences with the people who are important to us at work and at home, and help make it possible to put the power of digital technology in the hands of billions of people around the globe who have yet to reap the benefits of the knowledge economy.
Moving Beyond Disconnected Communications
A fundamental reason that communicating is still so complex is the fact that the way we communicate is still bound by devices. In the office, we use a work phone with one number. Then we ask people to call us back on a mobile device using another number when we are on the go, or reach us on our home phone with yet another number. And we have different identities and passwords for our work and home email accounts, and for instant messaging.
This will change in the very near future. As more and more of our communications and entertainment is transmitted over the Internet thanks to email, instant messaging, video conferencing, and the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), and other protocols, a new wave of software-driven innovations will eliminate the boundaries between the various modes of communications we use throughout the day. Soon, you'll have a single identity that spans all of the ways people can reach you, and you'll be able to move a conversation seamlessly between voice, text, and video and from one device to another as your location and information sharing needs change. You'll also have more control over how you can be reached and by whom: when you are busy, the software on the device at hand will know whether you can be interrupted, based on what you are doing and who is trying to reach you.
One of the best examples of how communication is changing-and how technology is integrating the way people share experiences across devices-starts in the world of video games. With Xbox Live, the online gaming and entertainment network for Xbox 360, people can play games with friends who are in distant locations. Xbox Live also provides a comprehensive range of communications options including video chat and instant messaging, as well as text, voice, and picture messaging, all seamlessly integrated into the video game experience. With more than 7 million subscribers, Xbox Live is quickly redefining the way people access entertainment of all kinds. And it is enabling them to share experiences with each other in real time without being constrained by the limits of location.
But that's just the start. We recently launched Games for Windows - Live, which links Xbox 360 gamers with the millions of people who play games on their PCs. Now, Windows and Xbox 360 video game players can compete and communicate with each other without being constrained by the limits of devices.
The communications expectations that young people-and anybody else who has adopted the latest digital communications tools-bring to the workplace are already changing how we do business. To them, the desk phone is an anachronism that lacks the flexibility and range of capabilities that their mobile device can provide. A generation that grew up on text messaging is driving the rapid adoption of instant messaging as a standard business communications tool. Accustomed to forming ad hoc virtual communities, they want tools that facilitate the creation of virtual workgroups. Used to collecting and storing information online, they look for team Web sites, Wikis, and other digital ways to create and share information.
All of these expectations are prompting companies to adapt by implementing new communications strategies and technologies. Those that do are already seeing a wide range of benefits including significant cost savings and important productivity gains. At Microsoft, for example, we replaced our old voice mail system with Exchange Server 2007 unified messaging, a move that is saving the company $5 million annually by lowering hardware and maintenance costs. More importantly, Exchange Server 2007 provides a software solution that enables integration of traditional telephone infrastructure and VoIP with corporate messaging, calendaring, and directories. This convergence of telephony and messaging increases employee productivity and decreases the administrative workload for IT professionals.
The Next Wave of Communications Technologies
Today in San Francisco, Microsoft is launching the next wave of enterprise VoIP and unified communications products for business. Among the products we'll launch are Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007, which bring together a broad range of communications options including voice, instant messaging, and video into a single, consistent experience. Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communicator make it easier for employees to communicate and collaborate with each other in real-time by letting them see at a glance if the people they want to contact are available. They will also be able to initiate a conversation by email, voice, video, or instant messaging from within Microsoft Office system applications, making communication and collaboration an integral part of day-to-day work processes, rather than an interruption. In addition, when they use the new version of Office Communicator Mobile that is launching today, they will be able to stay connected using Windows Mobile-powered devices.
We're also announcing the availability of Microsoft RoundTable, an advanced video and VoIP conferencing device that provides a 360-degree view of a meeting room, along with wideband audio and video that tracks the flow of conversation between multiple speakers. With RoundTable and Office Live Meeting or Office Communications Server, meeting participants in different locations will be able to converse and share information as if they were in the same room. RoundTable also enables companies to record meetings for later use.
All of these products are important steps toward achieving our long-term vision for streamlined, integrated communications that will enable people to be more productive, more creative, and to stay in touch more easily without being limited by the device they have at hand or the network they are connected to.
A Foundation for Future Innovation
It would be hard to overstate the magnitude of the changes that are coming. Standardized, software-powered communications technologies will be the catalyst for the convergence of voice, video, text, applications, information, and transactions, making it possible to create a seamless communications continuum that extends across people's work and home lives. This will provide the foundation for new products, services, and capabilities that will change the world in profound and often unexpected ways.
This will happen not only in developed countries where access to digital technology is the norm, but also in emerging economies around the world. Currently, about 1 billion of us have a PC, just a fraction of the world's 6 billion people. As we make technology more accessible and simpler to use-often in the form of affordable mobile devices-we can extend new social and economic opportunities to hundreds of millions of people who have never been able to participate in the global knowledge economy. And as more and more of the world's people are empowered to use their ideas, talents, and hard work to the fullest, the results will be new innovations that make everyone's lives richer, more productive, and more fulfilling.
Your bud, Bill
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Process for Process sake....
How often do we find ourselves developing processes to improve business and streamline the work environment. I have been consulting for several years now and the one constant is "process". When I engage a client I have to come in understanding the fundamentals of their processes and help them define which processes can be retired or recreated to improve processes. All well and good (honestly, one of the favorite aspects of what I do!). The one thing I have a difficult time with is coming into a client and realizing they have processes just for the purpose of having a process.
"Well Joe, what do you mean by that?..." Simply.
We should not do things for the purpose of having something to do. Every function we provide to an organization or ourselves should have an inheritance value back to the organization or to us. Just because the organization has funds which they need to spend to justify a budget should not constitute the development of useless or non-revenue generating processes.
"Well Joe, how do you know if the process will generate revenue?..." Also simply.
If you have to weave through several processes to determine what a single process actually does, than it is less likely to produce revenue for a company or value to one's self. Efficiency is the key. A process is only as good as the time it takes to understand or explain what it does. If you cannot explain a process in two sentences or less, it's probably costing more to maintain the process than to return value. So what does this all mean???
Stop, think and most importantly keep it simple! The more time we spend understanding why a process is needed the less likely it will be retired or require much change later on and most importantly, gain value from the process.
Life is complicated only because people make it this way... Be a part of the change to come back to basics and reap the value of simplicity.
The Mortgage-Driven Simplicity Method states:
"Fear complexity. Continue to collaboratively iterate the design until the design team unanimously agrees that it’s the simplest solution possible that meets the requirements."
"Well Joe, what do you mean by that?..." Simply.
We should not do things for the purpose of having something to do. Every function we provide to an organization or ourselves should have an inheritance value back to the organization or to us. Just because the organization has funds which they need to spend to justify a budget should not constitute the development of useless or non-revenue generating processes.
"Well Joe, how do you know if the process will generate revenue?..." Also simply.
If you have to weave through several processes to determine what a single process actually does, than it is less likely to produce revenue for a company or value to one's self. Efficiency is the key. A process is only as good as the time it takes to understand or explain what it does. If you cannot explain a process in two sentences or less, it's probably costing more to maintain the process than to return value. So what does this all mean???
Stop, think and most importantly keep it simple! The more time we spend understanding why a process is needed the less likely it will be retired or require much change later on and most importantly, gain value from the process.
Life is complicated only because people make it this way... Be a part of the change to come back to basics and reap the value of simplicity.
The Mortgage-Driven Simplicity Method states:
"Fear complexity. Continue to collaboratively iterate the design until the design team unanimously agrees that it’s the simplest solution possible that meets the requirements."
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Release of Performance Point 2007 Server
Article from Redmond Developer:
Microsoft hasn't been in the business intelligence (BI) market as long as competitors such as Business Objects, but recent research studies have seen Redmond growing strongly in the space.
Microsoft is about to write the next chapter in its BI story with the release of PerformancePoint Server (PPS) 2007 on Sept. 19.
PPS is essentially the middle tier of Microsoft's BI stack, where Office serves as a front-end and SQL Server is the back-end, storing data and providing an online analytical processing engine. PPS is used to generate corporate performance management features such as scorecards and dashboards.
Gartner Inc. analyst John Van Decker says PPS 2007 will make a big splash in the BI space because Microsoft is set to challenge its competitors based on price. "We think it will have a market-transforming effect because the price point should be much lower," Van Decker says.
However, Van Decker suggests, that doesn't mean Microsoft is targeting its products at small and midsize businesses. "Initially, there's been some talk that it would've been positioned more as a mid-market offering. Based on what we've seen, it's anything but. It's an offering for the tier-one space."
Development ImplicationsPPS's core capabilities are based on analytics technology Microsoft acquired by purchasing ProClarity last year. Redmond has issued several community technology previews of PPS leading up to the September launch. The result is surprisingly full-formed, analysts tell RDN. Van Decker says the modeling tools within PPS "are good for a first release.
"We thought it was going to be an environment where you develop your own applications. That's true to a point. ... It will require some IT involvement to get the environment up and running."
Forrester Research Inc. analyst Paul Hamerman says PSS was created with the business analyst and end user in mind. "Developers may want to sit side by side with the business people and configure these models," he says by way of painting a development scenario.
Microsoft's Bill Baker says enterprise developers would work on tasks such as integration of PPS-generated functionality into other apps. "The more business-oriented person can handle the modeling but a developer can punch it into the application," says Bill Baker, whose full title is general manager, Office Business Platform, business intelligence.
Development atop PPS is partly constrained by which version of Office an enterprise is using. While PPS supports both Office 2003 and Office 2007, the end-user experience will differ, Hamerman notes. "Basically what it comes down to is that Office 2007 has some added UI functionality -- the ribbons, stuff like that. It's a richer UI and PPS 2007 takes advantage of some of those capabilities," he says. "This is a strength. UI is clearly a Microsoft strength."
Big BI JumblePPS -- at least this initial version -- is also in a sort of limbo on the back-end. It is built atop SQL Server 2005, but Microsoft has been touting SQL Server 2008 -- set for launch in the second quarter of 2008 -- as the cornerstone of its BI offerings.
But Baker says PPS won't immediately take full advantage of advanced features planned for SQL Server 2008 -- which include new support for spatial and unstructured data, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework.
The company plans to issue a PPS service pack to ensure the 1.0 product is "fully compatible" with SQL Server 2008, but customers won't see true integration until PPS version 2.0. Baker says that release will coincide with the next version of Office. (Microsoft hasn't given a release date but reports have pegged 2009.)
Ventana Research Inc. analyst and CEO Mark Smith says this seemingly scattershot approach is nothing new, and probably not a big deal in this case. "Like any company, Microsoft has these release cycles. Nothing is ever lined up. ... There are sufficient interfaces to make this stuff hold together."
Baker argues that incongruous release schedules can provide opportunities. "You can go back and forth about whether you want to line these things up or stagger them," Baker argues. "The nice thing is they're putting stuff into SQL Server 2008 now that we'll use very richly in our next version."
PPS has also gained interest from a number of ISVs, which are using Microsoft's code to add reporting functionality into their own products, Baker says. He declined to name the company but says announcements will follow the PPS launch.
Intelligent Choices.NET shops looking to add BI capabilities might naturally gravitate to Microsoft's ready-made stack. That said, enterprise BI customers have a wide range of other and more mature and sophisticated technology to choose from, Smith says, and those working in mixed environments have certain questions to consider.
"You need to do an assessment of what your company is requiring in what timeframe. ... You have to kind of commit to using an Office-based environment for BI, which has yet to be proven. People use Excel in the enterprise but not necessarily in a shared fashion," Smith says. Also, PPS is built atop SQL Server and isn't compatible with other databases. That's not the case with some competing vendors, Smith notes. "Most of the BI products support SQL Server or IBM."
Chris Kanaracus is the news editor for Redmond Developer News.
Microsoft hasn't been in the business intelligence (BI) market as long as competitors such as Business Objects, but recent research studies have seen Redmond growing strongly in the space.
Microsoft is about to write the next chapter in its BI story with the release of PerformancePoint Server (PPS) 2007 on Sept. 19.
PPS is essentially the middle tier of Microsoft's BI stack, where Office serves as a front-end and SQL Server is the back-end, storing data and providing an online analytical processing engine. PPS is used to generate corporate performance management features such as scorecards and dashboards.
Gartner Inc. analyst John Van Decker says PPS 2007 will make a big splash in the BI space because Microsoft is set to challenge its competitors based on price. "We think it will have a market-transforming effect because the price point should be much lower," Van Decker says.
However, Van Decker suggests, that doesn't mean Microsoft is targeting its products at small and midsize businesses. "Initially, there's been some talk that it would've been positioned more as a mid-market offering. Based on what we've seen, it's anything but. It's an offering for the tier-one space."
Development ImplicationsPPS's core capabilities are based on analytics technology Microsoft acquired by purchasing ProClarity last year. Redmond has issued several community technology previews of PPS leading up to the September launch. The result is surprisingly full-formed, analysts tell RDN. Van Decker says the modeling tools within PPS "are good for a first release.
"We thought it was going to be an environment where you develop your own applications. That's true to a point. ... It will require some IT involvement to get the environment up and running."
Forrester Research Inc. analyst Paul Hamerman says PSS was created with the business analyst and end user in mind. "Developers may want to sit side by side with the business people and configure these models," he says by way of painting a development scenario.
Microsoft's Bill Baker says enterprise developers would work on tasks such as integration of PPS-generated functionality into other apps. "The more business-oriented person can handle the modeling but a developer can punch it into the application," says Bill Baker, whose full title is general manager, Office Business Platform, business intelligence.
Development atop PPS is partly constrained by which version of Office an enterprise is using. While PPS supports both Office 2003 and Office 2007, the end-user experience will differ, Hamerman notes. "Basically what it comes down to is that Office 2007 has some added UI functionality -- the ribbons, stuff like that. It's a richer UI and PPS 2007 takes advantage of some of those capabilities," he says. "This is a strength. UI is clearly a Microsoft strength."
Big BI JumblePPS -- at least this initial version -- is also in a sort of limbo on the back-end. It is built atop SQL Server 2005, but Microsoft has been touting SQL Server 2008 -- set for launch in the second quarter of 2008 -- as the cornerstone of its BI offerings.
But Baker says PPS won't immediately take full advantage of advanced features planned for SQL Server 2008 -- which include new support for spatial and unstructured data, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework.
The company plans to issue a PPS service pack to ensure the 1.0 product is "fully compatible" with SQL Server 2008, but customers won't see true integration until PPS version 2.0. Baker says that release will coincide with the next version of Office. (Microsoft hasn't given a release date but reports have pegged 2009.)
Ventana Research Inc. analyst and CEO Mark Smith says this seemingly scattershot approach is nothing new, and probably not a big deal in this case. "Like any company, Microsoft has these release cycles. Nothing is ever lined up. ... There are sufficient interfaces to make this stuff hold together."
Baker argues that incongruous release schedules can provide opportunities. "You can go back and forth about whether you want to line these things up or stagger them," Baker argues. "The nice thing is they're putting stuff into SQL Server 2008 now that we'll use very richly in our next version."
PPS has also gained interest from a number of ISVs, which are using Microsoft's code to add reporting functionality into their own products, Baker says. He declined to name the company but says announcements will follow the PPS launch.
Intelligent Choices.NET shops looking to add BI capabilities might naturally gravitate to Microsoft's ready-made stack. That said, enterprise BI customers have a wide range of other and more mature and sophisticated technology to choose from, Smith says, and those working in mixed environments have certain questions to consider.
"You need to do an assessment of what your company is requiring in what timeframe. ... You have to kind of commit to using an Office-based environment for BI, which has yet to be proven. People use Excel in the enterprise but not necessarily in a shared fashion," Smith says. Also, PPS is built atop SQL Server and isn't compatible with other databases. That's not the case with some competing vendors, Smith notes. "Most of the BI products support SQL Server or IBM."
Chris Kanaracus is the news editor for Redmond Developer News.
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