Norm's PerformancePoint Server Blog : PerformancePoint Server-Monitoring

Configuring PerformancePoint Monitoring Server Component Connectivity

normbi — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:35:46 GMT

When I installed PerformancePoint Monitoring, I got stuck because I couldn't figure out why I was not able to connect to some underlying data sources. I figured it out after reading Nick Barclay's BI Blog.

A new article, published on The Microsoft PerformancePoint Team Blog, describes how different PerformancePoint Monitoring Sever components authenticate and connect to each other and to data sources in order to create and render reports. Click here to download the article.

The following common problems were considered:

Why can’t I see any Analysis Services Databases when creating a data source using the Dashboard Designer?
What configuration files are referenced when deciding how to perform authentication and where are they located?
What are the default settings for IIS Application Pools used by various PerformancePoint Monitoring Server components?
Why do I receive an error message indicating that a dashboard is unavailable after publishing the dashboard to a SharePoint Server site?

The following “how do I” solutions are addressed:

Locating and modifying Web.Config files.
Determining the correct setting for the Bpm.ServerConnectionPerUser property.
Configuring PerformancePoint Monitoring Server authentication to ensure that dimensional security by user and/or group enforced by Analysis Services roles will be honored.
Granting PerformancePoint Monitoring Server permissions by user and/or group.

If that's not enough, the following are some pre-released bits of security/role content written by one of PeformancePoint's Information Worker technical writers, Denise. Thank you Denise for this content!

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How do user roles and permissions affect dashboard elements?

Roles and permissions are interconnected in that permissions are typically granted to users through their assigned roles. For example, some users may be assigned roles that enable them to edit elements, such as data source connections, reports, or scorecards. Other users may be assigned roles that enable them to only view elements.

Roles are assigned in various software applications, such as Monitoring Server, Dashboard Designer, Windows SharePoint Services, and other servers, including Reporting Services, Analysis Services, ProClarity Analytics Server.

Norm's note: There is a difference between Monitoring Server roles and Monitoring Server element roles. Additionally, you may need access to several other servers. Consider the following (from Denise's topic).

Servers host data used by dashboard elements, such as reports, scorecards, or filters. Examples of possible dashboard data sources include:

SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services
SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services
ProClarity Analytics Server
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Excel Services

Example: Using roles in multiple servers to create dashboard elements

Suppose that you have the Creator role in Monitoring Server and you deploy dashboards in your organization. Suppose further that you want to include a ProClarity report in your dashboard. In order for you to do this, you must also have a role in ProClarity Server that enables you to view and use ProClarity reports. This is necessary because your Creator role only applies to Monitoring Server; the Creator role does not automatically extend to other servers that host reports or data you want to use.

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Well, in conclusion, here are a few great links for servers that are likely to host data used by dashboard elements.

Monitoring Server roles and security

Security Considerations for SQL Server

Reporting Services Security Model

Plan site and content security (Windows SharePoint Services)

Plan Excel Services security

Configuring Excel Services for PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer - prerelease topic !

normbi — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:33:36 GMT

There is some customer pain around configuring Excel Services to which I am addressing in a topic (yet to be published) for PerformancePoint. This post is a sneak preview (pre-edited). This topic will be located underneath the topic Configuring SharePoint Products and Technologies for Monitoring Server. This is one of several topics that our team will write to address customer pain points. Tell me what you think.

Configure Excel Services

Introduction

In Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Monitoring and Analytics (PPS M&A), you can use publish an Excel workbook to Excel Services which becomes one of the potential data sources for a dashboard designer. You can use it to load, calculate, and display Office Excel workbooks to a document library.

You can then use the report wizard in DashboardDesigner to select a specific spreadsheet or a particular object such as a PivotTable, and include it as a report in a dashboard with full Excel functionality. Excel Services is a part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Services (MOSS) 2007. To learn more about Excel Services security, see http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/a49883a7-de84-4a66-8fa0-7c7d125f237b1033.mspx?mfr=true

The following are the three locations that need to be configured.

Configure the settings for the Excel Services unattended service account.

The unattended service account is a low-permissions account that Excel Calculation Services can impersonate when establishing a data connection that uses single sign-on (SSO) credentials from an environment that is not Windows-based, or None, as the authentication method.

Note This procedure is a requirement only for servers that do not have Kerberos enabled. If you have Kerberos enabled, you can skip this section and proceed to Configure settings in Excel Services Trusted File Locations.

Configure the settings in Excel Services Trusted File Locations

Trusted file locations manage who can act as an author for workbooks that are available under Excel Services. The trusted locations can be designated as SharePoint locations, UNC paths, or HTTP paths. Excel Services loads workbooks only from directory paths that the administrator designates.

Configure the settings in Excel Services Trusted Data Connection Libraries

Trusted data connection libraries are SharePoint document libraries that contain Office data connection (.odc) files. The .odc files are used to centrally manage connections to external data sources.

This section gives instructions to configure so that Excel Services can be used as a data source for PerformancePoint Server M&A.

Pocedures

Configure the settings for the Excel Services unattended service account

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

2. On the Central Administration home page, click Shared Services Administration.

3. On the Manage this Farm's Shared Services page, click the default shared services provider that you want to change.

4. On the Shared Services Administration page, click Edit Excel Services Settings under Excel Services Settings.

5. Next to External Data, enter the Unattended Service account information. Make sure that you use an account that has limited Write permissions.

Add a trusted file location

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

2. On the Central Administration home page, click Application Management.

3. On the Application Management page, in the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Shared Services section, click Create or Configure this Farm's Shared Services.

4. On the Manage this Farm's Shared Services page, click SharedServices1 (Default). This is the Shared Services Provider (SSP) that you will configure.

5. On the Shared Services home page, in the Excel Services Settings section, click Trusted file locations.

6. On the Excel Services Trusted File Locations page, click Add Trusted File Location.

7. In the Address section, type the location and name of the SharePoint Office SharePoint Server 2007 document library that you want to add as a trusted file location in Excel Services. If the document library is stored in the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 content database, ensure that Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is selected as the Location Type.

8. In the External Data section, select the type of data connections that you will allow workbooks in this trusted file location to contain and click OK.

Add a trusted data connection libraries

1. From Administrative Tools, open the SharePoint Central Administration Web application.

2. On the Central Administration home page, click Application Management.

3. On the Application Management page, in the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Shared Services section, click Create or Configure this Farm’s Shared Services.

4. On the Manage this Farm’s Shared Services page, click SharedServices1 (Default). This is the Shared Services Provider (SSP) that you will configure.

5. On the Shared Services home page, in the Excel Services Settings section, click Trusted data connection libraries.

6. On the Excel Services Trusted Data Connection Libraries page, click Add Trusted Data Connection Library.

7. Type the address of the data connection library that you want to configure as a trusted data connection library and click OK.

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Excel and Dashboard Designer modifications

Modify the Excel spreadsheet

There are a few modifications that need to be made on the Excel spreadsheet and in Dashboard Designer. I will publish this later.

PerformancePoint Architecture, Deployment, and Operations Documentation

normbi — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 03:44:00 GMT

The PerformancePoint 2007 documentation has a wealth of information for Monitoring, Analytics, and Planning. Today’s blog entry will highlight the documentation for architecture, deployment, and operations.

By the way, for a complete documentation map -which includes downloads of the docs included with the product, click here.

The Planning & Architecture Guide is designed to help IT administrators make informed preliminary decisions that are necessary to optimally deploy PerformancePoint Server for their business needs. Topologies, server components, and system requirements are included for both Planning and Monitoring.

The Deployment Guide contains information about how to install PerformancePoint Server in single-computer and distributed environments, and lists the prerequisites for each scenario. Installation information for both Planning and Monitoring is included.

The Operations Guide contains information for maintaining PerformancePoint Planning Server and PerformancePoint Monitoring Server. Information includes guidance for migrating Planning applications and application data, migrating Monitoring Server data, and information about upgrading your system from a previous PerformancePoint Server CTP release. Also covered: backup, restore, and data mirroring with SQL Server databases that are used with Planning Server and Monitoring Server, and information about the PerformancePoint Planning Command Utility.

PerformancePoint Server White Papers: Right now there is one white paper and others that are being written. The Performance Tuning and Capacity Planning for PerformancePoint Monitoring Server White Paper provides guidance to PerformancePoint Server administrators and IT professionals on Monitoring Server performance capabilities. This includes how server performance is affected by security settings, number of users, scalability, load capacity, and other server performance considerations.

The writers and product team put together a great set of docs and addressed several pain points for customers. While the documentation covers a lot of ground, there is more to add. If you see gaps, tips, or best practices that should be included, don’t hesitate to make suggestions in this blog OR click here and create a comment.