Having moved from CTP to RTM last month and now that PerformancePoint is available under volume licensing we now have Microsoft forums set up under both TechNet and MSDN.

Despite being non-technical I get quite a few support questions submitted by readers of this blog and whilst some I will try to answer this is really the most efficient way of connecting into a wealth of technical expertise both within Microsoft and our partner community.

Microsoft forums for Microsoft PerformancePoint Server, ProClarity and Master Data Management are now publicly available on TechNet or MSDN, allowing for enhancement of the user community by providing a place where users can discuss, share knowledge, and provide new ideas on our products. These are forums for external users, as well as internal Microsoft employees. This provides an excellent place to ask questions and get answers by interacting with other members of the PerformancePoint and Microsoft BI community.

The Forums will fully replace the older V1 Beta newsgroups on January 2, 2008. Until then we will keep the current Beta newsgroups alive, but inform the users there to move to the Forums ahead of time. See below for more information.

A. What are advantages of the new Microsoft Forums?

• Discoverability on internet search means more users participating and using content
• Strong authentication (a top request from frequent users, Microsoft MVPs) means less spam and more accountability
• Answer-tagging differentiates answers from ordinary replies, making search more relevant and metrics more actionable
• In order to post questions, you only need to set up a Microsoft TechNet login (all it requires is a internet passport account)

The Microsoft Forums are moderated by a Microsoft representative (and collaborate with Microsoft MVP's as appropriate)

B. FAQ about Microsoft Forums

See: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/languages/en-US/docs/faq.aspx?SiteID=17

C. What are the PerformancePoint team specific forums?

TechNet Forums

• PerformancePoint Server Planning – and - PerformancePoint Monitoring Analytics are contained in main page below.

Link:

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=517&SiteID=17

• ProClarity:

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=516&SiteID=17

MSDN Forums

• Master Data Management (MDM)

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/default.aspx?ForumGroupID=519&SiteID=1

D. What were old newsgroups that are going away (inactive) Jan 2 2008?

The two old Beta Newsgroups (on http://connect.microsoft.com ) were:

Microsoft.beta.office.performancepoint.monitoranalyze
Microsoft.beta.office.performancepoint.planning

Hat tip to Venky Renganathan in the PPS Programme Management team for pulling this together.