Intelligent Insight on PerformancePoint

It's that time of year

2008-07-21T20:45:27Z

We've just concluded the formal conference season - with the completion of Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston and Microsoft's internal MGX Sales Conference in Atlanta.

Having just completed a phenomenal fiscal year we typically spend the first two weeks of July setting plans and objectives for the coming year.

This kicked off with some 12,500 partners in Houston two weeks ago. From a BI perspective there's some incredible excitement within our partner community and also within the Microsoft business to deliver another stellar year. Most of the major keynotes from Steve Ballmer, Simon Witts and Chris Caposella outlined the importance of Business Intelligence for Microsoft in the upcoming 12 months - all three talked about the "democratization of BI" - which outlines our strategy around providing business intelligence to the majority of decision makers up and down the organization.

You can review the keynote information and major messaging here at the digital WPC site. I'd especially encourage you to look at Chris Caposella's keynote and in particular the demonstration from Kirk Koenigsbauer which showcased not only our core business intelligence assets in PerformancePoint and SQL but also provided some guidance as to how we also leverage the Microsoft SharePoint Server platform and FAST to deliver a truly compelling business intelligence and decision support experience.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence,PerformancePoint,SQL Server 2008,FAST,Partner

PerformancePoint Server SP1 released

2008-06-09T05:20:14Z

In case you weren't aware of this...last week we released the Service Pack for PerformancePoint Server 2007.

With this new Service Pack, enhancements have been made to the monitoring, analyzing and planning functionality found in PerformancePoint Server to help organizations improve decision making. Usability, stability and performance enhancements are key focus areas for PerformancePoint Server SP1.

Organizations will be able to take advantage of new workbook options for improved performance of queries, as well as see the effects of changes in planning assignments for better “what-if” analysis.

Organizations using strategy maps and KPI’s for monitoring and analytics will see improvements to scorecard and filter usability. Scorecards with negative numbers have improved formatting and are easier to read, while dashboards with filters are now faster to render and provide the ability to link reports directly to KPI’s. There are also improvements to Tabular filters and Time Intelligence Post Formula filters.

In addition, SP1 adds certified support for Windows Server 2008. Support for SQL Server 2008 will be available later this year following the release of SQL Server 2008.

For more details:

http://office.microsoft.com/enus/performancepoint/FX102380591033.aspx

Technorati Tags: PerformancePoint,Microsoft

Performancepoint planning data migration tool

2008-06-02T07:56:00Z

The PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning Data Migration Tool is now available on TechNet and the MS Download Center.

Norm Warren has provided some great additional guidance to support this here.

Documentation: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc512833.aspx

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FA1C6CAD-45BD-4E5C-A257-4BBA84FA4224&displaylang=en

Technorati Tags: PerformancePoint,Planning,TechNet,Data Migration,Microsoft

Downloadable implementation plans for PerformancePoint server 2007

2008-05-25T18:53:26Z

A wealth of new content (templates, project plans and worksheets) has been made available on TechNet to assist partners and customers with implementing PerformancePoint Server 2007.

There are links to this content below:

As always we'd welcome your feedback on these.

Technorati Tags: Training,PerformancePoint,Implementation,Microsoft,Business Intelligence

PerformancePoint: Implementation web cast series

2008-04-26T09:39:32Z

This three-part webcast series has been created specifically for Microsoft partners and will provide guidance and best practices around implementing PerformancePoint Server 2007.

The first two webcasts 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 scheduled. The objective of this series is to train partners how to use the Implementation Methodologies developed by Microsoft's BI CoE in order to successfully and correctly implement PPS at customer sites. The series will take place the first three Tuesdays in May at 9:30am PT. Registration links below:

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007: M&A Implementation Methodologies and Best Practices

This webcast will introduce you to 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 presentation will take you through the suggested phases of a generic PerformancePoint Server M&A implementation; what to look out for – and the “do’s” and “don’ts”.

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007: Planning Implementation Methodologies and Best Practices

This webcast will introduce you to 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 presentation will take you through the suggested phases of a generic PPS Planning implementation; what to look out for – and the “do’s “ and”don’ts”.

Microsoft Finance Case Study: PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning Implementation Do’s and Don’ts

Microsoft is on the path of migrating all current planning and forecasting applications with an integrated solution based on Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. This webcast will address the financial management challenges addressed by PerformancePoint Server 2007 and lessons learned.

Technorati Tags: Partner,Training,PerformancePoint

Lessons in Marketing: Puma

2008-02-07T22:52:05Z

Completely off topic but I saw this post today from Seth Godin which prompted me to share this. Ever since I was a child Puma has been my sports footwear of choice. Why? Put simply my best friend's father was a brand manager for their footwear division in Australia and even at a young age this prompted me to become a brand advocate for Puma. Something I still advocate today as I think they have a cool and unique brand and we're unquestionably pioneers in making the transition from providing high-performance sports footwear and casual footwear. Now all brands have a similarly diverse set of offerings but whilst Nike and Adidas still focus on inspiring people through strong brand advocates such as Michael Jordan and David Beckham, Puma have adopted a different strategy that's historically focused more on word of mouth. Now they're teaming up with Alexander McQueen and Yasahiro Mihara to really emphasise their focus into "sports-fashion".

Oh yeah - and a few years back in 1994 I was asked to do a fashion shoot for Puma Australia "then new" street shoes. I don't think the series of photographs taken ever went any more broadly than some basic catalogues - which is probably a good thing. Perhaps unsurprisingly I now work in BI and Puma are teaming up with professionals. You can do the maths.

Technorati Tags: Seth Godin,Puma,Marketing

The BI Blog

2008-02-04T08:46:11Z

Great news - We've decided to create THE BI BLOG. I've been asked to contribute (which is a great honour) and we'll look to make sure there's something in here for everyone from the customer, partner, developer, and implementer.

For the BI BLOG I'll be teaming up with Nic Smith and Guy Weismantel from the Performance Guys. Maybe we'll even encourage Dennis to contribute as a guest blogger.

From a partner perspective I'm keen to make sure we're able to showcase some of the great solutions our partners are building on top of the PerformancePoint platform so I'd really encourage you to reach out to me if you've got an interesting and innovative story to tell.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence,Blogging,Microsoft

Do the dance...

2008-02-01T05:28:08Z

So SAP/BOBJ are using Sir Mixalot as their unofficial mascot with the release of Baby got BI. Our approach is a little different but here's how the Softie's do it. I'll leave you to be the judge of who's best in the "war on talent".

Technorati Tags: Microsoft,Fun

Help: How do I...

2008-01-31T01:13:46Z

This is a great set of resources from Jeff Carr that expands upon the information I posted earlier on the PerformancePoint Planning and Architecture Guides.

Jeff's taken this one ~~step~~ LEAP further - This is your PerformancePoint Bible:

Help, How To, Guides, Manuals, & Forums

Planning Help: How do I ...

Monitoring Help: How do I ...

Guides and Manuals

User Forums on TechNet

This is a GREAT resource for both customers and partners.

Technorati Tags: PerformancePoint Server 2007,Planning,Monitoring,Analytics,SQL,Business Intelligence,Microsoft

Downloadable Books for PerformancePoint Server 2007

2008-01-30T04:18:16Z

The PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning & Architecture Guide, Deployment Guide, and Operations Guide are now available as downloadable books from TechNet.

Information about how to plan a PerformancePoint Server deployment in a large enterprise environment is a common partner request so hopefully this should assist in addressing some of these questions.

Feedback as always is welcome and encouraged.

Technorati Tags: PerformancePoint Server 2007,Planning and Architecture,Deployment,TechNet