New OBA Partner blog

2006-02-02T10:00:00Z

Joey Fitts has recently joined the team as the Global Bus Dev Mgr - OBA Partners. His blog will provide info on partner events, training, and serve as a general resource for current/prospective partner companies. Check it out here.

Product help

2005-12-14T07:25:00Z

You can access the end user help for the product by going to the product documentation download page: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=D2F8C636-602D-4744-BA7D-D3821F8920D5&displaylang=en and downloading the Views_Help.exe file. This is also accessible in the product.

FAQ for Business Scorecard Manager (DRAFT)

2005-12-10T03:32:00Z

Note: For official information on MOBSM, please see Office On-line website at http://microsoft.com/office/bsm

1. While installing Server.msi, why does installation fail on requirements for “Microsoft OLEDB Provider for OLAP Services (MSOLAP) 2000 SP4 (8.00.2039)”

Suggestion: Instructions for installing with SQL Server 2005 CTP 16 in README.txt may not have been followed in sequential order. To resolve this issue, run the “PTSFull.exe”, which is available in the MSOLAP\Install\PTS directory in the latest SQL Server 2000 Service Pack CD.

While you may be able to find the same exact same file on the internet (hosted by Microsoft partners who also use this service), I’d recommend getting the latest update from the service pack CD in case at some point in the future the file is updated and the internet version gets stale.

Updated 11/28/2005: Also make sure you have SP4 installed

2. While installing Server.msi, why does the feature requirements analysis under webparts shows "Failed Microsoft SharePoint Extended Site" and setup does not continue?

Suggestion: A website has been created in IIS but not extended to be managed by SharePoint. For information about how to extend SharePoint site, please see the documentation included with Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

3. While installing Builder.msi, why am I not able to install on my Windows XP machine (with no server-side components)?

Suggestion: Pre-requisites outlined in Administration Guide may not have been met. Check to make sure Windows XP Service Pack 2 was installed.

4. While attempting to connect to a data source in Business Scorecard Builder, why do I get the following message: “The Business Scorecard Manager server could not connect to the data source. Verify all of the required data has been entered and the required connection information is correct”?

Suggestion: Either the database server name is incorrect or the Scorecard Manager Web Service AppPool account does not have permissions on the backend data source. Often you’ll find that the Foodmart sample database in Analysis Services does work and nothing else does. That’s because Foodmart gives read permission to everyone by default.

5. While using the Server Administration Pane in Business Scorecard Builder, why do I see this message: “A connection cannot be made to the service. Verify the service exists and try again.”?

Suggestion: The Scorecard Manager Web Service AppPool account may not have permission on the server to run the Web Service

6. While using Business Scorecard Builder to create an ADOMD.Net data source definition against a SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 database, why do it look like I can connect, but the “Database Name” drop down returns an empty set (i.e. no databases in the list)? This problem does not happen with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services.

Suggestion: The Scorecard Manager Web service application pool might not have the permissions to SQL 2005 database. This can be verified in the SQL Server Management Studio by right clicking on SQL 2005 database->Roles->Manage Roles and check Membership

7. What’s wrong with my Beta2 to RTM upgrade?

http://spaces.msn.com/members/iantien/Blog/cns!1p0VgVUcxDR_JdidQow4FyzA!218.entry

8. While using Business Scorecard Builder, why must I be logged in to the domain on the server to connect?

Answer: This was done for the purposes of integrated security.

9. When viewing Scorecards in SharePoint, why are some report views are not displayed in the deployed page? They are connected to the BSM Scorecard but not displayed on clicking.

Suggestion: Go to Modify Web Page->Modify Web Parts and make sure that the “Group” number of the report views you want to see is checked. You can show or hide different report view groups for each Office Report View webpart so that KPIs can be re-used over and over in different scorecards while being managed from a central definition.

10. Why don’t I see all my indicators in the dropdown of the “Thresholds” pane?

Suggestion: Insert the indicators you want to use in your workspace and make sure the scoring pattern (“Closer to Target is Better” or “Increasing/Decreasing is Better”) matches the indicator type (“Centered” or “Standard”). Only indicator sets that are in your workspace and of the appropriate type will show.

11. When exporting to SQL Reporting Service, why do I find the error “An attempt has been made to use a data extension 'ScorecardDPE' that is not registered for this report server”?

Suggestion:

a) Install the Scorecard Manager Reporting Services Export feature (part of the Server.msi custom installation)

b) If both Reporting Services 2000 and 2005 are installed the DPE DLL was installed and only one RS config file might have been modified. Copy the Microsoft.PerformanceManagement.Scorecards.DPE.dll into the \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\ReportServer\bin directory and edit the RSReportServer.config & rssrvpolicy.config with entries corresponding to the ScorecardDPE

12. Following Web Part error in the page: “One of the properties of the Web Part has an incorrect format. Windows SharePoint Services cannot deserialize the Web Part. Check the format of the properties and try again.”

Suggestion: The AppPool may not have appropriate permissions (see this article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;826786). Another possibility is that installation instructions may not have been followed in sequential order. This happens when a Web Part is exported and imported instead of running the Server.msi to update the web.config file for the site. To resolve the issue, run the Server.msi instructions in Admin Guide.

13. What do I do when I get this: "There is a problem with this scorecard. Ensure that it and all dependant items have been published correctly and that you have adequate permissions to view them. If the problem still persists then please contact a system administrator."

Suggestion: Right click on the scorecard and select "Validate" to figure out what's breaking the validation

14. (Updated 11/11/2005) What do I do when I get this: "the service is either not started or too busy" while trying to connect to SQL Server 2005 with OWC?

Suggestion: Sometimes when you install PTSlite msolap90.dll does not get appropriately registered. To register the DLL run regsvr32 "c:\program files\common files\system\Ole Db\msolap90.dll"

15. (Updated 12/2/2005) Sometimes when exporting viewing a SQL Server Reporting Services Reports auto-generated by Business Scorecard Manager in certain formats you'll see some odd formatting of the indicator images (cropping for example).

Suggestion: Here are some notes on how to address this:

One way to solve it though is to modify the RDL file directly or through the RS Report Designer:

1)       In the BSM Builder, choose Tools->Deploy Scorecard -> To Reporting Services Report -> Save Sql Server report to File System and follow the steps of the wizard to generate the report to a file (e.g. scorecard.rdl)

Note: You can also save the already deployed report by going to Report Manager (http://machine_name/reports), then to the exported report (e.g. scorecard), click on the menu option Properties (next to View), click "Edit in the next window and then click "Save" to save the report as a file (scorecard.rdl).

2)       Open Visual Studio, create a Business Intelligence Projects -> Report Project, add the scorecard.rdl file to the project.

3)       Go to the Layout and change the "Sizing" property of all the Image objects from "Clip" to "AutoSize" ("Fit" and "Fit Proportional" still present problems when exporting to tiff/pdf or when the indicator images are of different sizes).

4)       Deploy the report to the Report Server.

16. (Updated 12/2/2005) I'm having a setup issue with SQL Server 2000

Suggestion: See SQL Server 2000 FAQ

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Business Scorecard Manager Team Blog

New OBA Partner blog

Product help

FAQ for Business Scorecard Manager (DRAFT)