Learn, Build, Grow...Intelligent Collaboration: April 2008

Monday, April 28, 2008

BI VPC 6 now available

A new version 6.0 (April 2008) of the BI VPC is available. For some reason, I could not find it on the Microsoft US Download Center but its available from the following link.

http://www.microsoft.com/sverige/partner/market/marknadskampanjer/dbp.mspx (look at the bottom right of the page for download links)

Quick ToC for this VPC (new content highlighted in yellow)–

Presenter Scripts	Applications Installed	Sample Databases / Cubes
Business Intelligence "All-Up" Presenter Script Financial Analyst VP of Sales Sales Representative Chief Financial Officer Data Analyst 2007 Microsoft Office System Launch Demo Data Mining Deep Dive Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence Demo Banking Demo Federal Government Demo State & Local Government Demo Healthcare Demo Oil & Gas Demo Retail Demo Project REAL Sample Demos SQL Server 2005 Demos PerformancePoint Launch Demo PerformancePoint Budgeting Demo PerformancePoint CRM Demo PerformancePoint MAP (Monitoring, Analytics, and Planning) Demo PerformancePoint Planning Demo PerformancePoint Planning Consolidation Demo PerformancePoint Management Reporter Demo PerformancePoint Sales Forecasting Demo PerformancePoint Strategic Planning Demo OfficeWriter Demo PerformancePoint Hands-On Labs New Account Load Demo	Windows Server 2003 R2 Service Pack 2 Internet Explorer 7 Office Enterprise 2007 Office Visio 2007 SharePoint Portal Server 2007 SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (w/ SSIS, SSAS, SSRS) SQL Server 2005 Data Mining Add-ins SQL Server 2005 SharePoint Integration Add-in ProClarity Analytics Server 6.3 ProClarity Dashboard Server 6.3 ProClarity Desktop Professional 6.3 ProClarity Web Professional 6.3 PerformancePoint Planning Server 2007 PerformancePoint Planning Add-In for Excel PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler PerformancePoint Monitoring Server PerformancePoint Monitoring Scorecard Builder OfficeWriter for Word Plug-In OfficeWriter for Excel Plug-In Project REAL Reference Implementation Business Intelligence Metadata Samples	AdventureWorks AdventureWorks_Mfg (for Lean Manufacturing) AdventureWorksDW (for AdventureWorks data warehouse) Camden (Local Government) Contoso (for PerformancePoint Planning) EP Government_AppDB (PerformancePoint Planning) HC Healthcare_AppDB (PerformancePoint Planning) OSS (Healthcare) PDW (for PerformancePoint Planning) PeoplSoft Financials_AppDB (PerformancePoint Planning) PPS Launch (for PerformancePoint Planning) PSFIN_Data_Mart REAL_Source_Sample_V6 (for Project REAL) REAL_Warehouse_Sample_V6 (for Project REAL)

Friday, April 18, 2008

Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft share views on practical applications

Event Registration (EVENT: 106793): "What does a next generation workplace solution look like in action?

Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Time: 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT

Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft have worked together to shape a next generation workplace vision and solution strategy to help organizations address complex workplace challenges in improving performance. A panel of subject matter experts from the alliance discusses the tactical, practical application of their comprehensive next generation workplace solution delivery strategy and approach, which addresses overall business objectives as well as specific end-user needs.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Microsoft Business Intelligence Blog : PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1

Microsoft Business Intelligence Blog : PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 1: "What is in it, got this email the following week. It doesn't list everything, but if they are doing everything that is in the email, that is a good thing.
· Filter performance – you should see a 4-6x improvement in your filter performance, this is an area we would like some feedback on
· Multi-select filters in PPS will now pass to multi-select parameters in SSRS reports
· Negative numbers causing text wrap
· Time Intelligence day offset issues and localization issues
· Display conditions not working for strategy map and excel services views
· Null actual values yielding incorrect status
· Dashboard designer dashboard layout improvements
· Chart/grid bug fixes
· Strategy map improvements
· And many more

There are almost 300 fixes that are implemented in SP1."

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

New Microsoft Whitepaper: Planning Server Performance Tuning and Capacity Planning

Planning Server is part of Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007.

This white paper is for analysts and IT professionals who want guidance about Planning Server scalability capabilities and the number of users that can be served. Considerations for hardware planning and software tuning are also covered.

Date published:
March 2008

Sunday, April 13, 2008

How To Choose Among The Four Bright Lights Of BI -- Business Intelligence -- InformationWeek

How To Choose Among The Four Bright Lights Of BI -- Business Intelligence -- InformationWeek: "After a tumultuous year of acquisitions and consolidation, the business intelligence market is down to IBM, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft. All four are pitching enterprise-wide BI platforms, each with its own twist. Here's what you need to know about them."

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Next Level of Data Visualization

The Next Level of Data Visualization: "What do you get when you put Virtual Earth and PerformancePoint Server together? How about a geospatial solution on steroids? Together the two technologies expand what is possible with BI and data visualization and offer a way to monitor performance, locations, and make better, faster and more relevant decisions allowing the business to plan more rapidly, act more quickly, ensure the achievement are aligned with the overall strategy and budget. Check out this public sector solution scenario example for health and safety."

http://www.microsoft.com/Industry/government/solutions/virtual_earth/demo/ps_gbi.html

Friday, April 11, 2008

Creating a Scorecard in PerformancePoint Server 2007 (PPS)

Creating a Scorecard in PerformancePoint Server 2007 (PPS): "Scorecards are becoming an integral part of many BI applications. They offer an easy way for a business user to see how the business is doing. Scorecards can be developed to measure the performance of many different parts of the business such as the total company, divisions, departments, etc. In each case the scorecard clearly enumerates the objectives, targets, and actual results of the particular area of the business. The power of the scorecard is its ability to present this information in a way that allows us to focus on whether the actual business results are meeting our stated goals and objectives.Scorecards are becoming an integral part of many BI applications. They offer an easy way for a business user to see how the business is doing. Scorecards can be developed to measure the performance of many different parts of the business such as the total company, divisions, departments, etc. In each case the scorecard clearly enumerates the objectives, targets, and actual results of the particular area of the business. The power of the scorecard is its ability to present this information in a way that allows us to focus on whether the actual business results are meeting our stated goals and objectives."

Global High Performers - Forbes.com

Global High Performers - Forbes.com: "One such exceptional company is HSBC, which not only leads this year's Global 2000 in size but also is one of five Global High Performers in banking. HSBC has delivered 26% annual average growth in revenue and 31% in net income over the past five years--results that seem more suited to a growing regional bank than one operating in 83 countries with 10,000 offices and $2.3 trillion in assets."

Thursday, April 10, 2008

IBM Ships Fastest CPU on Earth

Slashdot IBM Ships Fastest CPU on Earth: "'The 5-billion-instructions-per second Power6 processor from IBM would beat such rivals as the 3.73 gigahertz Pentium Extreme and the 2.4 gigahertz UltraSparc T2 from Sun. 'It's hard to make the average person understand just how fast this is,' said IBM Chief Technology Officer Bernard Meyerson, offering an example meant to explain his company's baby that still leaves the listener awed with the speediness of the two laggards. 'Hold your index finger out in front of your face,' Meyerson said in a telephone interview from IBM headquarters in New York. 'In less time than it would take a beam of light to travel from your knuckle to your fingertip, the new IBM chip would complete one task and start looking for the next, he said.''"

Monday, April 07, 2008

The Evolving Function of Finance

THE BI Blog : The Evolving Function of Finance: "CFO magazine recently did a research study on business innovation to explore how finance works with the business to engage in new and better ways of driving the organization forward. This has been a very hot topic for both the BI industry and the finance world as organizations look to technology to help give finance a strategic seat at the business table. I was recently at a CFO event where the topic of the conference was how IT and Finance is partnering to provide stronger value to the business. Questions such as; should your company’s finance team devote more, the same or less effort to activities such as finding and validating opportunities to improve operating performance, understanding the revenue, cost, and profit implications of decisions, understanding competitive dynamics, developing business cases for investment decisions, analyzing customer preferences and purchasing behavior, and preparing budgets, plans, and forecasts?"

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Jason Morales' Microsoft BI Update v.19 - April

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Microsoft Business Intelligence Newsletter - April 2008 - Issue 3

Welcome to the 3rd issue of the Microsoft Business Intelligence Newsletter! We are excited to feature an article by Bill Baker, Microsoft General Manager and Distinguished Engineer, called "The Next Big Thing in BI." The issue also includes new resources, event and product updates, and information about a new book on performance management titled Drive Business Performance, which is now available for pre-order. We hope that you find the newsletter to be a valuable resource and we encourage you to share it with your colleagues!
The Next Big Thing in BI
By: Bill Baker, Microsoft General Manager and Distinguished Engineer The next big thing in business intelligence (BI) is...Return on Investment. The common conversation around BI today is about driving BI deeper and wider into organizations. Customers question how to get from 200 BI users to 2,000 users or from 2,000 to 20,000. Baker believes this comes from two angles. First, companies and organizations have had good practical experiences with BI in recent years. They truly believe in the power of business intelligence to improve their companies. Second, they are sensitive to the ROI of BI projects. Read the full article.
Product News

Management Reporter is now available to PerformancePoint Server 2007 Software Assurance Customers
Microsoft Office PerformancePoint 2007 Management Reporter, a part of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, is a new report writer designed to help finance groups create and generate financial reports that can be distributed across the organization. Management Reporter works directly with PerformancePoint Server 2007, and it can be integrated to a general ledger system by using the PerformancePoint Data Integration Toolkit ensuring real-time, accurate data directly from the source. Customers with active Software Assurance on Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 as of or after February 1, 2008 are granted the right to use Management Reporter as additional software for that product. For more information on Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 and Management Reporter, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/PerformancePoint.

Customer Success
Restaurant Boosts Revenues 2.5 Percent by Giving Performance Data to Managers
The information on which Potbelly Sandwich Works personnel made business decisions was limited in scope and available only to some of the people who needed it. To address the problem, Potbelly adopted a Microsoft® Business Intelligence solution that enables executives, managers, and store operators to make better, more profitable decisions based on information and insight. Read the full article.

Partners
Coming in May: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Implementation Web Series This three-part webcast series will introduce partners to the Microsoft Consulting Services' Performance Management Center of Excellence (PM-CoE). The PM-CoE is responsible for documenting implementation methodology and best practices for Performance Point Server 2007. The first two presentations will take partners through the suggested phases of a generic PerformancePoint Server Monitoring and Analysis and Planning implementation; what to look out for - and the "do's" and the "don'ts." In addition, a webcast detailing Microsoft's internal implementation of PerformancePoint Server 2007 is also planned. Registration details will be available soon! Contact Joanne Pinter for more details.
Events

Visit Microsoft at the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit in Chicago, April 1-3rd
Microsoft is a Platinum Sponsor of the Gartner Business Intelligence Summit taking place in Chicago from April 1-3rd. Stop by the Microsoft Booth #1 to learn more about Microsoft Business Intelligence and to speak with our product experts. Join us and Maricopa County for our Solution Provider Session on Wednesday, April 2nd at 2:00 pm. Party like a Rock Star at the Microsoft Hospitality Suite on Wednesday, April 2nd from 5:30 - 8:30 pm -- we'll be giving away a XBox 360, Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Zunes and more! Visit the Gartner BI Summit website for more information.

Microsoft BI Conference 2008: Call for Presentations is Now Open!
Are you interested in sharing your experiences deploying Microsoft Business Intelligence with other attendees at the 2nd Annual Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference being held from October 6-8, 2008 in Seattle? If so, we are currently accepting session proposals. This is your chance to be a part of this exciting conference by submitting a proposal to speak in one of the technical or business-focused BI tracks at the event. Nominations are due by Friday, April 11, 2008. For more information and to submit your session proposal, visit the Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference website.

Microsoft BI Conference 2008: Customer Awards Program
We will be recognizing our customers for their outstanding solutions built on the Microsoft Business Intelligence product family and the benefits their company has realized as a result at the 2nd Annual Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference. We are now accepting customer award entries on the Conference website. Why submit an application? Finalists will receive a FREE pass to the Conference along with other winning rewards! Nominations are due Friday, August 1, 2008. For more information about the Awards Program and to submit a nomination, visit the Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference website.
Resources
SQL Server 2008 launches 4 new BI Virtual Labs
•
Data Mining with SQL Server 2008 This lab walks you through some key data mining scenarios that will enable predictive analysis across the enterprise.
•
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services: Delivering Analysis Services capabilities through Microsoft Office SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services and its deep integration with Microsoft Office enables every user to drive actionable insights. This lab walks you through some key scenarios to utilize this powerful integration.
•
SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services: Managing the Report Services Infrastructure Learn to manage Reporting Services configuration, manage security roles, and configure reports by using subscriptions.
•
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services: Managing Analysis Services Solutions Better manage a Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services instance and database, secure Analysis Services, and monitor Analysis Services performance.

New PerformancePoint Virtual Labs are Now Available!
Learn about creating dashboards using Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. With these three new labs, you'll learn how to connect to various data sources, including Excel 2007, create scorecards, and SharePoint lists for inclusion in the dashboard. Scroll to the 'Business Intelligence' section and select the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server labs. Click here to get started.

New book! Drive Business Performance
Starting with a Foreword by Drs. Kaplan & Norton, Drive Business Performance has received top praise from industry thought leaders and executives: "a pragmatic guide for world-class decision making," "a ground-breaking book that executives and managers alike should read," "provides specific and easy-to-follow guidance to deliver results. A must read for any organization seeking to win." Pre-order now & get a 40% discount!

Visit the New Microsoft Business Intelligence Website!
The new version of the Microsoft Business Intelligence website is now available. The latest version contains new content as well as several new pages including case studies, training, and THE BI Blog. Visit the site today to learn more about Microsoft Business Intelligence!
Did You Receive The Business Intelligence Newsletter from a Friend? The Microsoft Business Intelligence Newsletter is full of the latest news, resources, product information and events related to Microsoft BI that we encourage subscribers to forward to friends and co-workers. If you've received this issue from someone via e-mail and would like to receive the freeMicrosoft Business Intelligence Newsletter bimonthly, all you have to do is subscribe.
April 2008Issue 3

In This Issue:

Product News

Customer Success

Partners

Events

Resources

Resources
Visit the Microsoft Resource Center
Make your decision a whole lot easier. Get tools that can help you gain insight into creating an integrated, cost-effective Microsoft Business Intelligence (BI) solution.
Looking for More Information on SQL Server 2008?
Learn more about SQL Server 2008 with learning resources that include Academy Live Webcasts, Data Sheets, Product Overviews, Technologies, White Papers, Webcasts and more. Partners click here for more information. Customers click here for the latest information.
Learn More about Microsoft Business Intelligence
Visit the Microsoft Business Intelligence website to learn more about our solutions, products, learning opportunities and other great resources.
To cancel your subscription to this newsletter, reply to this message with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject line. You can also unsubscribe at the Microsoft.com web site. You can manage all your Microsoft.com communication preferences at this site.Legal Information.This newsletter was sent by the Microsoft CorporationOne Microsoft WayRedmond, Washington, USA98052
Sign up for other newsletters Unsubscribe Update your profile
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation Terms of Use Trademarks Privacy Statement

More immediate than e-mail? Get instant access with Windows Live Messenger.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Gartner Says Worldwide BI Spending to Grow 11 Percent in 2008

Published: April 1, 2008
Worldwide BI platform revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1 percent through 2012, to reach $7.7 billion in 2012.
Despite major consolidation among business intelligence (BI) vendors in 2007 and growing fears of an upcoming economic slowdown, BI platforms are expected to continue to grow at a strong rate, according to Gartner, Inc.
The worldwide market for BI platforms is forecast to reach $5.8 billon in 2008, an 11.2 percent increase from 2007. Worldwide BI platform revenue is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1 percent through 2012, to reach $7.7 billion in 2012. Gartner analysts expect BI platform revenue to be less affected by an economic downturn than some other technologies because of the high priority BI platforms hold with CIOs. BI was the No. 1 technology priority in 2008 in a worldwide survey of 1,500 CIOs by Gartner Executive Programs.
“The fact that BI has held the top spot with CIOs in this survey for three years running makes us believe that BI will be more resilient against the effects of a possible downturn in IT spending than some other technologies,” said Dan Sommer, Senior Research Analyst for Gartner. “Furthermore, the survey indicates that CIOs are looking to increase their budgets for BI by about 11 percent this year.”
2007 saw a turbulent shakeout of BI vendors, with Microsoft growing its capabilities, and Business Objects (SAP), Cognos (IBM) and Hyperion (Oracle) being the most notable acquisitions of the year, resulting in a new playing field, dominated by these megavendors. Growth in 2007 has been partly inflated by Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), in which the strong euro has caused a boost of global growth rates when reporting in dollar terms. Overall for 2007, in dollar terms, EMEA and Asia/Pacific displayed stronger growth rates than North America, and they are expected to do so again in 2008.
Given the recent weakness of the U.S. economy, the technology market in North America is expected to see low growth for the first half of 2008. Much of the early weakness will be from organizations exercising caution in spending their budgets being prepared for a quick pullback should the economic situation decline more rapidly or severely than currently expected.

New MS Management Reporter

In case you have heard about the new MS Management Reporter. It is basically FRx reborn into the PPS world. Like FRx, it is a table based report writer which allows you to define the rows and columns for each report (mainly for Finance dept folks to use to generate reports). This is an early version so the feature set is limited compared to what FRx offers (So FRx users may lose some functionality with this tool). The ability to use Excel or publish to SSRS, is awesome but there is no SharePoint integration at this point. Currently it works directly with PPS or on top of almost any General Ledger. However, I think it only works with GL data at this time.

Microsoft PPS site on Management Reporter
http://www.microsoft.com/business/performancepoint/capabilities/planning/reporter.aspx

Management Reporter Forum (TechNet)
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=2036&SiteID=17

Management Reporter vs FRx
http://www.frxbuzz.com/blog/_archives/2008/3/25/3602038.html

http://www.frxbuzz.com/blog/ManagementReporter

General Blog
http://blogs.technet.com/andrew/archive/2008/02/25/management-reporter-the-new-frx.aspx

http://bimvp.com/blogs/bsm/default.aspx

Solving Business Problems with SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services: Microsoft TechNet SQL Server TechCenter

Solving Business Problems with SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services: Microsoft TechNet SQL Server TechCenter: "One of the most powerful features of analytics applications is the ability to drill down into data. This allows users to perform the iterative process of examining the data, forming a hypothesis, and then investigating the data further. By giving all users the ability to drill down through the data, organizations have opened up the data for any user to examine the data and answer their own questions about what underlies the numbers they are seeing. In this way, users can perform their own analysis, eliminating the need to return to Information Technology staff, repeatedly asking for new reports with lower and lower levels of detail."

Learn, Build, Grow...Intelligent Collaboration