Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server was a software
product from Microsoft
for the business intelligence
sector. Development on PerformancePoint was discontinued in April 2009. The dashboard, scorecard, and analytics components of PerformancePoint have been incorporated into Sharepoint Server
2010.
PerformancePoint Server 2007 integrated with other Microsoft Office
products including Excel
, Visio
, SQL Server
, and SharePoint Server. It was also the successor to the scorecard capabilities of Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager and the monitoring and analytic capabilities of recently acquired ProClarity.
PerformancePoint Server also provided a planning and budgeting component which was directly integrated with Excel and SQL Server Analysis Services
. PerformancePoint gathered data from disjointed systems in keep overall accurate information. This includes the views of Project financials with Schedule performance with integration of EPM 'Dashboards' into the SharePoint-based PerformancePoint. Since PerformancePoint uses 'data cubes' to manage the information being collected, you can make connections into existing cubes or schedule data transfers from existing backoffice systems into these data cubes to easily represent the same information within more advanced and informative 'Value' added dashboards.
Microsoft is only one of a number of vendors in this emerging business intelligence market; others include: MicroStrategy
, Information Builders
, Oracle
, Business Objects
(acquired by SAP
in 2007), Hyperion
(acquired by Oracle
in 2007), Cognos
(acquired by IBM
in 2008), SAS
, Informatica
, QlikTech
and Pentaho
.
predicts that interest will be strongest among companies that are looking to move up from Microsoft's earlier BI offerings including Excel and SQL Server
, which were not quite feature-rich enough to allow Microsoft to compete with the other enterprise-level vendors in this market segment. The acquisition of ProClarity Corporation
in 2006 has enabled Microsoft to add deep analytics for reports created by its PerformancePoint Monitoring Server.
Microsoft will discontinue PerformancePoint Server as an independent product and is folding its Dashboard, Scorecard and Analytic Reporting capabilities into SharePoint Server, signaling a significant change in the company's business intelligence software strategy. The technology will live on as "PerformancePoint Services" and is projected to be potentially disruptive in the marketplace.
Dashboard Designer saves content and security information to a SQL Server 2005 database that is managed through Monitoring Server. Data source connections, such as OLAP cubes or relational tables, are also made through Monitoring Server. Reports based on these data source connections are run and updated through Monitoring Server, however some reports, such as PivotTables and PivotCharts, have independent connections to their source data (queries for these reports are not processed by Monitoring Server).
After a dashboard has been published to the Monitoring System Database, it can be deployed to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services. HTML pages that represent the dashboard content are stored in a document library and can be viewed in a browser. When dashboards are opened in a browser, Monitoring Server updates the data in the views by connecting back to the original data source and retrieving the most current data.
PerformancePoint Monitoring Server comes with an API that allows developers to add extensions to the Dashboard Designer, such as custom reports, custom data source providers, custom wizards, and user interface extensions.
Additionally, through its support of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
(GAAP), Planning Server enables business users to publish live reports from Excel to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and SharePoint Services.
Planning Server is built on a SQL Server stack, with extensive use of Excel for line-of-business reporting and analysis.
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
product from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
for the business intelligence
Business intelligence
Business intelligence mainly refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or departments, or by associated costs and incomes....
sector. Development on PerformancePoint was discontinued in April 2009. The dashboard, scorecard, and analytics components of PerformancePoint have been incorporated into Sharepoint Server
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint is a web application platform developed by Microsoft. First launched in 2001, SharePoint is typically associated with web content management and document management systems, but it is actually a much broader platform of web technologies, capable of being configured into a wide...
2010.
PerformancePoint Server 2007 integrated with other Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
products including Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
, Visio
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio , formerly known as Microsoft Office Visio, is a commercial diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams.- Features :...
, SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
, and SharePoint Server. It was also the successor to the scorecard capabilities of Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager and the monitoring and analytic capabilities of recently acquired ProClarity.
PerformancePoint Server also provided a planning and budgeting component which was directly integrated with Excel and SQL Server Analysis Services
Microsoft Analysis Services
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services is part of Microsoft SQL Server, a database management system. Microsoft has included a number of services in SQL Server related to business intelligence and data warehousing. These services include Integration Services and Analysis Services...
. PerformancePoint gathered data from disjointed systems in keep overall accurate information. This includes the views of Project financials with Schedule performance with integration of EPM 'Dashboards' into the SharePoint-based PerformancePoint. Since PerformancePoint uses 'data cubes' to manage the information being collected, you can make connections into existing cubes or schedule data transfers from existing backoffice systems into these data cubes to easily represent the same information within more advanced and informative 'Value' added dashboards.
Microsoft is only one of a number of vendors in this emerging business intelligence market; others include: MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy
MicroStrategy, Inc. , is a business intelligence software vendor. MicroStrategy's software enables leading organizations worldwide to analyze the vast amounts of data stored across their enterprises to make more strategic business decisions...
, Information Builders
Information Builders
Information Builders is a privately held software company, with its headquarters in New York City. The company was founded in 1975 by Gerald D. Cohen, Peter Mittelman, and Martin B. Slagowitz. Information Builders is known for their business intelligence tools FOCUS and...
, Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, Business Objects
Business Objects (company)
SAP Business Objects is a French enterprise software company, specializing in business intelligence . Since 2007, it has been a part of SAP AG. The company claimed more than 46,000 customers worldwide in its final earnings release...
(acquired by SAP
SAP AG
SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...
in 2007), Hyperion
Hyperion Solutions
Hyperion Solutions Corporation was a business performance management software company, located in Santa Clara, California, USA, which was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2007...
(acquired by Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
in 2007), Cognos
Cognos
Cognos was an Ottawa, Ontario-based company making business intelligence and performance management software. Founded in 1969, at its peak Cognos employed almost 3,500 people and served more than 23,000 customers in over 135 countries.Originally Quasar Systems Limited, it adopted the Cognos...
(acquired by IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
in 2008), SAS
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
, Informatica
Informatica
Informatica Corporation is a NASDAQ listed company with ticker INFA. Founded in 1993, its headquarters is in Redwood City, California. Founded by Diaz Nesamoney and Gaurav Dhillon...
, QlikTech
Qliktech
QlikTech is a business intelligence software company based in Radnor, Pennsylvania. QlikTech is the provider of QlikView, a business intelligence solution that delivers enterprise-class analytics and search. Its in-memory associative search technology makes calculations in real-time, enabling...
and Pentaho
Pentaho
The Pentaho BI Suite is open source Business Intelligence suite with integrated reporting, dashboard, data mining, workflow and ETL capabilities. Pentaho is headquartered in Orlando, USA.- Overview :...
.
History
Although the version 1 product was not officially released until November 2007, Microsoft had been offering Community Technology Preview releases since mid-2006. A recent analysis by GartnerGartner
Gartner, Inc. is an information technology research and advisory firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. It was known as GartnerGroup until 2001....
predicts that interest will be strongest among companies that are looking to move up from Microsoft's earlier BI offerings including Excel and SQL Server
Microsoft Analysis Services
Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services is part of Microsoft SQL Server, a database management system. Microsoft has included a number of services in SQL Server related to business intelligence and data warehousing. These services include Integration Services and Analysis Services...
, which were not quite feature-rich enough to allow Microsoft to compete with the other enterprise-level vendors in this market segment. The acquisition of ProClarity Corporation
ProClarity Corporation
ProClarity Corporation is a software company specializing in business intelligence. The company was founded in 1995 and is based in Boise, Idaho. ProClarity's products integrate tightly with Microsoft SQL Server, specifically Microsoft Analysis Services...
in 2006 has enabled Microsoft to add deep analytics for reports created by its PerformancePoint Monitoring Server.
Microsoft will discontinue PerformancePoint Server as an independent product and is folding its Dashboard, Scorecard and Analytic Reporting capabilities into SharePoint Server, signaling a significant change in the company's business intelligence software strategy. The technology will live on as "PerformancePoint Services" and is projected to be potentially disruptive in the marketplace.
Monitoring Server Operation
The Monitoring and Analytics features, which include Dashboards, Scorecards, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), Reports, Filters, and Strategy Maps, are delivered via a Monitoring Server, which includes two client user interfaces: Dashboard Designer and SharePoint Web Parts. Dashboard Designer is downloaded from Monitoring Server, and enables business analysts or IT Administrators to:- create data source connections
- create views that use those data connections
- assemble the views in a dashboard
- deploy the dashboard to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services.
Dashboard Designer saves content and security information to a SQL Server 2005 database that is managed through Monitoring Server. Data source connections, such as OLAP cubes or relational tables, are also made through Monitoring Server. Reports based on these data source connections are run and updated through Monitoring Server, however some reports, such as PivotTables and PivotCharts, have independent connections to their source data (queries for these reports are not processed by Monitoring Server).
After a dashboard has been published to the Monitoring System Database, it can be deployed to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services. HTML pages that represent the dashboard content are stored in a document library and can be viewed in a browser. When dashboards are opened in a browser, Monitoring Server updates the data in the views by connecting back to the original data source and retrieving the most current data.
PerformancePoint Monitoring Server comes with an API that allows developers to add extensions to the Dashboard Designer, such as custom reports, custom data source providers, custom wizards, and user interface extensions.
Planning Server Operation
The PerformancePoint Planning Server supports a variety of management processes, which include the ability to define, modify, and maintain logical business models integrated with business rules, workflows, and enterprise data.Additionally, through its support of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction; generally known as accounting standards...
(GAAP), Planning Server enables business users to publish live reports from Excel to SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and SharePoint Services.
Planning Server is built on a SQL Server stack, with extensive use of Excel for line-of-business reporting and analysis.
Management Reporter
Management Reporter is the fourth component of PPS (Planning, Monitoring and Analysis being the first three). This component is specifically designed to perform Financial Reporting and can read the PPS Planning Financial Models directly. A development kit is also available to allow this component to report off of other repositories.External links
- The official Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Web site http://www.microsoft.com/business/performancepoint/
- Help for PerformancePoint Server 2007 http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/performancepoint/FX102380591033.aspx
- PerformancePoint Server 2007 Developer Portal http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/bb660518.aspx
- Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 and Integrated Business PlanningIntegrated business planningIntegrated business planning refers to the technologies, applications and processes of connecting the planning function across the enterprise to improve organizational alignment and financial performance...
http://www.riverlogic.com/downloads.php?ContentID=1003 - ITWorx Government Performance ManagementGovernment Performance Management- GPM Definition :Government Performance Management consists of a set of processes that help government organizations optimize their business performance. It provides a framework for organizing, automating, and analyzing business methodologies, metrics, processes and systems that drive business...
http://gpm.itworx.com
Blogs about PerformancePoint Server 2007
- Data Puzzle http://blogs.technet.com/datapuzzle
- Intelligent Insight on PerformancePoint http://blogs.msdn.com/btamblyn/default.aspx
- PerformancePoint Insider http://performancepointinsider.com/blogs/default.aspx
- The Microsoft PerformancePoint Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/performancepoint/default.aspx
- The Adatis PerformancePoint Team Blog http://blogs.adatis.co.uk
- PerformancePointing http://www.performancepointing.com
- PerformancePoint Consulting http://www.performancepointconsulting.com