Norm's PerformancePoint Server Blog : PerformancePoint Server-Planning

Remote PPSCMD call from SSIS Control Flow Item to Modeler machine

normbi — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:02:16 GMT

A while ago I posted a video for using SSIS for PerformancePoint Server (PPS) Planning data integration. Consider also rereading other posts on this. Somebody asked a valid question about how to use PPSCMD remotely from an SSIS Control Flow Item. Well, let me just paste the question here.

We have this server environment for PPS:

· SQL DB and SSIS Box

· SSAS Box

· PPS/IIS box

We have a SSIS package in SSIS box to call Planning command utility:

Does this mean we have to install PPS modeller in SSIS server box in order to run this process?

Answer: NO

Barry Tousley, one of Microsoft PerformancePoint Server's great tester provides the following:

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"Are you able to change the SSIS command so that it can do a “remote PPSCMD” call to the Modeler machine, (you can do this using a tool called ‘PSEXEC’, (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/psexec.mspx))? If so, you could have the SSIS package use PSEXEC to execute PPSCMD remotely from the Modeler machine. Is that an option?

If not, you can always just install Modeler on the SQL Server, IIS is not required for Modeler, (so that won’t compromise your SQL Server’s security), and it’s a small footprint as well. And just because it’s installed on the SQL machine doesn’t mean you have to let people use that particular Modeler install, just let the account that’s executing the SSIS package use that one. J

You’ll also want to change the Arguments so the SERVER string isn’t “localhost”, but instead actually points to the FE Server machine."

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Here's more info. about PSEXEC (PsTools)

PsExec is part of a growing kit of Sysinternals command-line tools that aid in the adminstration of local and remote Windows NT/2K systems named PsTools.

Click here to download.

PPS-Planning Intercompany Eliminations for a Financial Model

normbi — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:18:59 GMT

Forrest Dermid, a Microsoft BI technical specialist and my favorite (and only) contact for providing great video posts, has offered another. This video provides you with a how-to lab for performing PPS Planning intercompany eliminations for a financial model without shares. Forrest also demonstrates a simulation of activity between two entities in SQL Server 2005 --to show there is little magic to eliminations. Please let us know what you think of the video.

Intercompany elimination: In the process of preparing consolidated financial statements, it is necessary to remove evidence of transactions that took place between the parent and subsidiary. I don't think investors care to see intercompany transactions.

Other sources:

How do I set up a model for shares calculation and consolidation?

Deploying PerformancePoint Planning Server in a Test Lab

normbi — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:00:26 GMT

Hi, my name is not Norm – it’s Ross. I’m also a technical writer focusing on content development for IT Professionals using PerformancePoint Server.

I would like to share a draft copy of the document I’ve been working on, currently titled “Deploying PerformancePoint Planning Server in a Test Lab”. The goal of this document is to provide the minimum amount of detailed information needed for a successful distributed deployment. For example, information such as where to get the prerequisites files, which accounts to create in Active Directory, and what you need to configure on SQL server when deploying a simple distributed deployment of PerformancePoint Planning Server using only three servers, PPS Planning Server, an Active Directory domain controller, and SQL Server.

Please let me know what you think of this document. Does it provide value to you? Are there any improvements/suggestions that you would like to see? Would you like to see similar-type documents? In addition, another goal of this document is for it to be modular, where additional content to help fill out the larger picture of deploying and using PerformancePoint Server could be added. For example, a possible add-on to this document would be “Integrating SQL Server Analysis Services with Planning Server”. Then, possibly another add-on after that would be “Using Planning Business Modeler and PPS Add-in for Excel with PPS Planning Server”. Any feedback would greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

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This document provides detailed information for setting up a distributed deployment of PerformancePoint Planning Server in a test lab environment.

By following the guidelines provided within this document you will be able to successfully deploy PPS Planning Server by completing the following tasks:

Installing software prerequisites
Adding user accounts and assigning permissions in Active Directory and SQL Server
Installing PPS Planning Server
Verifying installation of PPS Planning Server

Overview

As shown in the following figure this scenario is comprised of three servers, an Active Directory domain controller, a PerformancePoint (PPS) Planning Server, and a SQL Server.

Before installing the software prerequisites you should read the following regarding the preconfigured baseline information for each of the three servers used in this test lab scenario.

In the remainder of this document each of the servers will be referred to as follows:

DC = Active Directory Domain Controller
PPS = PerformancePoint Planning Server
SQL = SQL Server 2005 database

The pre-configured baseline for these servers is listed as follows:

Operation System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
Domain	Fabrikam.com
Domain functional level	Windows Server 2003
IP address	192.168.0.1
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

PPS

Operating System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
IP address	192.168.0.2
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

SQL

Operating System	Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
SQL Version	SQL Server 2005 with Service Pack 2 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=d07219b2-1e23-49c8-8f0c-63fa18f26d3a&DisplayLang=en Cumulative update package 7 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949095/
IP address	192.168.0.3
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0

Installing Software Prerequisites

You need to install all of the following prerequisites (both stage 1 and stage 2) in order to have the ability to choose all of the options for installing PerformancePoint Planning Server.

PPS Prerequisites – Stage 1

Prerequisite component	Description and location
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client 9.0 (SP2)	File name: Sqlncli_x64.msi - part of “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0	Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x64) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=B44A0000-ACF8-4FA1-AFFB-40E78D788B00&displaylang=en
Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0	ASP.NET 2.0 is included in the .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistribution Package and installed as part of the package.

Stage 1 prerequisites allow you to complete the first stage of the installation, which will then let you begin the second stage using Planning Server Configuration Manager.

PPS Prerequisites – Stage 2

Prerequisite component	Description and location
Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0	File name: msxml6_x64.msi - This is a prerequisite for installing Analysis Management Object 9.0 (SP2). http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=d21c292c-368b-4ce1-9dab-3e9827b70604&displaylang=en
Analysis Management Objects 9.0 (SP2)	File name: SQLServer2005_XMO_x64.msi – part of “Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Objects Collection”, which is one of the downloads included in the “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
ADOMD.NET 9.0 (SP2)	File name: SQLServer2005_ADOMD_x64.msi - part of “Feature Pack for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 – February 2007” http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=50b97994-8453-4998-8226-fa42ec403d17&displaylang=en
Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0	IIS 6.0 is included in Windows Server 2003. To install IIS 6.0 you go to Control Panel \| Add or Remove Programs \| Add/Remove Windows Components \| Application Server
IIS 6.0 Isolation Mode	The application isolation mode needs to be set to worker process, which is the default when IIS 6.0 is installed and there is not a previous version of IIS already installed on the computer.
ASP.NET 2.0 Registration with IIS	To register ASP.NET with IIS you need to use the aspnet_regiis.exe command-line utility. For example, in this scenario using Windows Server 2003 64bit Edition at the following command prompt <drive letter>:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727 you would type aspnet_regiis –ir
ASP.NET 2.0 Web Service Extension in IIS	To enable Web Service Extensions in IIS you need to use Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to configure the Web Service Extensions to “Allowed”. For example, you need to change both “All Unknown CGI Extensions” and “All Unknown ISAPI Extensions” from the default of “Prohibited” to “Allowed”.

Stage 2 prerequisites are required in order to have all of the installable options available when completing the installation using Planning Server Configuration Manager.

Adding user accounts and assigning permissions

In this test lab scenario the following user accounts were created in Active Directory on the DC computer in the FABRIKAM domain:

User Account Name	Description
PPS_SIA	This is a required domain joined user account used by PPS Planning Server and is referred to as the service identity account. The account option “Password never expires” needs to be selected.
PPS_GAA	You must have a domain joined user account configured, which will be used when first opening and connecting to PPS Planning Server, which is referred to as the global administrator account during the installation process.
dbAdmin	This domain joined user account is used during the second stage of the installation process of PPS Planning Server. This user account is also added to SQL server and assigned the necessary account permission in SQL server.

In this test lab scenario the following user account was created in SQL Server 2005 on SQL:

SQL

User Account Name	Description
dbAdmin	In this lab scenario the following login name FABRIKAM\dbAdmin was added to SQL Server. The following server roles: dbcreator, public, and sysadmin were assigned to this login account. This account is used for the second stage of the installation process of PPS Planning Server, where access and permissions is required for the creation of database files.

In this lab scenario, the dbAdmin account was added as a member of the Administrators group on PPS.

Installing PPS Planning Server

In this lab scenario we used the user account FABRIKAM\dbAdmin to login to PPS and begin the installation process.

To install Planning Server

Insert the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 CD. When the program starts, a startup screen appears. If it does not, browse the CD and click Setup.hta.
From the installation startup screen, select Planning Server to begin the Planning Server installation. Prerequisite checks are run and the Microsoft Licensing Terms are presented. Note: Any missing prerequisites are indicated in the Prerequisites dialog box. All prerequisite checks must succeed. If one or more fails, cancel Setup, install the missing prerequisites, and then rerun Setup.
Accept the License Terms, and then click Next.
On the Directory Selection page, select the installation directory you want, verify that enough disk space exists, and then click Next.
Click Install to run Planning Server Setup.
Planning Server Setup runs, extracting all installation files to the directory path that you specified in step 4.
On the Planning Server Setup Has Completed page, ensure that the Run the Planning Server Configuration Manager check box is selected, and then click Finish. Note: If you choose to exit Setup without starting Planning Server Configuration Manager, the components will not be configured for use, and your Planning setup will remain incomplete. You must rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager to complete Setup and successfully configure your Planning Server. To rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager, do the following:

Navigate to the Windows Start menu.
Click Start, point to Programs, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and then click Planning Server Configuration Manager.

On the Planning Server Configuration Manager Welcome page, click Next.
On the Prerequisites page, verify that all prerequisites have passed. If there are any that fail, note them, cancel Planning Server installation, install all prerequisites, and then rerun Planning Server Configuration Manager.
On the Installation Options page, select Distributed configuration, ensure that all of the following components are selected (Planning Server databases, Planning Process Service, Planning Web Service, and Planning Administration Console) and then click Next.
On the Databases page, in the SQL Server location field, type the IP address of the computer running SQL Server, which in this test lab scenario is 192.168.0.2, and then click Next. Note: This procedure assumes a clean SQL Server computer with no previous PerformancePoint Server databases. If previous PerformancePoint Server databases are detected on the selected SQL Server computer, then an error message appears. To correct this error, select a new SQL Server computer or SQL Server instance, or manually delete the existing PerformancePoint Server databases. Do not rename existing databases, because this will leave the *.mdf and *.ldf files in an orphaned state, and make new PerformancePoint Server database creation impossible.
On the Global Administrator Account page, confirm that the account in the Domain and User Name field is the account that will be used for the first member of the Global Administrator (GA) role. In this test lab scenario you would enter the account, PPS_GAA. This account will be used to log into the Planning Administration Console for final system configuration and future administration. Click Next.
On the Service and Application Pool Identities page, specify a domain, username and password for the service identity account. In this test lab scenario you would enter the account, PPS_SIA. Click Next.
On the System Logs page, leave the default for all options, and then click Next.
For this test lab scenario on the Port Configuration page, uncheck “Require SSL connections to all Planning Server Web sites. This will allow you to view the network traffic for analysis without having the traffic for the connections to the Planning Web sites encrypted. Of course, this is not necessarily what you would want to do in a production environment. Then click Next.
On the Validation page, pre-installation validation occurs and confirms that the installation will proceed successfully. When this finishes, click Next.
On the Confirmation page, review this information, and then click Configure.
On the Summary page, you can view the results of the installation. To indicate a successful installation It should read “Configuration completed successfully” Click Close.
The installation of Planning Server is complete.

In this test lab scenario you should now logoff from PPS as FABRIKAM\dbAdmin.

Verifying installation of PPS Planning Server

To verify the successfully installation of PPS Planning Server in this test lab scenario perform the following tasks:

To verify the installation of Planning Server
Logon to PPS as FABRIKAM\PPS_GAA.
In this test lab scenario, open Internet Explorer and browse to: http://localhost:46788, where 46788 is the default port number specified for the Planning Administration Console.
In this lab scenario the following should be entered in the location dialog box: http://PPS:46787, where PPS represents the name of the server where the Planning Web Service was installed and where 46787 is the default port number for the Planning Web Service. Click Connect.

You should now have a working installation of PPS Planning Server; however, before you can begin working with models or applications, you must first create a PerformancePoint Planning application on the system that can be accessed by service clients, such as Planning Business Modeler and Planning Add-in for Excel.

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Thanks Ross -Norm

New White Paper on Performance Tuning with PerformancePoint Server 2007

normbi — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:37:07 GMT

"PerformancePoint Planning Server Performance Tuning" is a white paper for which many have asked. I am promoting it as did Jeffrey Carr here. The introduction says it all.

The download is here.

Introduction:

"Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 was designed as an infrastructure that includes everything between the server client tier and the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 databases and SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services cubes. It includes a run-time environment, APIs, scripts, configuration files, administrative functions, and a management console interface.

"This document describes the results of tests to measure scalability of Planning Server. The results of the tests confirm the following:

· Planning Server supports large numbers of business users, even when deployed on a conventional configuration consisting of four physical servers.

· Planning server performs well when additional server resources are added.

· Planning Server asynchronous implementation enhances performance and scalability.

"The test scenario described a typical corporate planning budgeting cycle with one data entry model. It had a large data set and was designed to provide unique security for a large number of users to ensure each component’s caching engine was working effectively."

Notes on video demo for SSIS and PPS data integration demo part I

normbi — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:15:49 GMT

Here are my notes for the part I video demo that describes moving reference data from a source to the Planning app db. Good news, you can also download the SSIS package from which Forrest is working. Download the SSIS package, watch the video and try it out!

Make sure you see the setup instructions from the ReadMe folder and have the AdventureWorksDW database on SQL Server.

By the way, why so much effort on providing information for data integration? Here are some good reasons.

You can't use the PPS applications without data (the right data).
Integrating data can be costly. I want to make it easier by providing instruction.
Using SSIS and a good process will help you create a repeatable method for loading data.

Video notes

The demo covers the following:

How to prepare the Account dimension in PPS Planning Business Modeler before populating with data.
How to synchronize the staging database in SSIS using the Business Modeler command utility, PPSCmd.
How to Create a Data Flow Task to move data.
How to load from app db to staging db with the PPSCMD.
How to populate the hierarchy - using the CreateHierarchFromDim stored procedure.

How to prepare the Account dimension.

The Account dimension is a predefined dimension that acts as a starting chart of accounts for various financial models in the Planning application. Forrest adds the following two members to the Account dimension in Planning Business modeler.

ParentName - Want to create a Member View or just view the inventory accounts.
AccountKey - Added as a source primary key to join on between the source and planning application.

On the application database the following tables (notice the naming convention) are created.

d_account
h_account
h_account_report (a Member set Forrest creates in the demo) You create a Member set to organize the dimensions, so that each of the items and members within can be identified and utilized for different purposes.

Review the structure of the application db. Also review the structure of the staging db in the topic About the structure of the staging database.

Create and populate a temp table called T_Account_Report, a replication of the hierarchy table.

How to synchronize the staging database in SSIS

Why? to bring the application db and staging database to the same state. For more information see synchronize the staging database.

Drag and drop the Execute Process Task (Control Flow Item) onto the Control Flow area.
Right click and select edit. The Execute Process Task Editor will open.
Select Process in the left pane.
Enter the location of the executable (one of the circled fields in the image).
Enter the argument for the PPSCmd command utility.
Click OK.

You might be safer to synchronize all dimensions. In that case, your argument would look like the following.

StagingDB /Operation SynchronizeData /Server http://localhost:46787 /Path <path> /Collection dimensions

How to Create a Data Flow Task

OLEDB Source and Destination

Right-click and edit.

How to load from app db to staging db with the PPSCMD

Review PPS data integration considerations on loading dimensions.

Also review the function BizSystemFlag plays while preparing data to load and troubleshooting.

Really, you should just read all of the Planning data integration help.

How to populate the hierarchy - using the CreateHierarchFromDim stored procedure.

Review PPS data integration help on populating a property-based hierarchy.

Also the stored procedure signature bsp_DI_CreateHierarchyFromDimenstion.

Summary

If it seems like my notes are incomplete, it is because they are incomplete. I ran out of time. But look forward to the next part (loading fact data).

SSIS and PerformancePoint Server data integration demo part I

normbi — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:24:17 GMT

Part I includes some high level instruction on moving reference data to the stagingDB (created from the PPS Planning DB). I had to stop short, so...to be continued.

[update] I have added to part I the following:

The rest to follow might look something like the following:

Part II - Move fact data using SSIS
Part III - Video demo of updating

Introduction

Before data analysis and planning is available in the PPS business modeler application, you must get data from one or more combination of business data sources into the application database. PerformancePoint Server provides stored procedures and methodologies to help move data to its application databases. Data can be moved from any one of your data sources to a staging database. The data can then be validated and moved from the staging database to the application database. You could call it the data integration (DI) process.

All of this can be scripted in an SSIS package using the PPSCmd command utility (PPSCmd.exe) and SSIS. There is nothing better than making the DI process for planning modeler repeatable with the powerful tools in SQL Server 2005 and the PPS Planning Command Utility.

I should note that this post will only give you an idea of what you can do in SSIS with PPSCmd.exe and SSIS Control Flow, Data Flow & Maintenance tasks. My post will not discuss at length the tools in SSIS, the complete data integration process, or trouble shooting fixes for DI in SSIS (go to bottom for links to trouble shooting).

Before I continue, here is a simple diagram to show the process of data integration for PPS Planning.

The examples that I will provide come from an end-to-end solution using AdventureWorks and created by one of Microsoft's senior technical solutions professionals, Forrest Dermid. The complete end-to-end scenario will probably show up in a white paper later on.

Before we start, here are some more assumptions:

The Business Modeler Planning application structure is created (models, dimensions, etc...) -the holding structure for your data.
The staging database has been created -although you could also create it using the SSIS Execute Process Task and embed a statement similar to the following. Note: switches are case sensative.

PPSCmd.exe StagingDB /Operation CreateStaging /Server http://localhost:46787 /Path <path>

You have created an SSIS package before and have general familiarity.
You have read the Planning data integration documentation to understand the process that will be reflected in the SSIS package.

How to

Let's start where we must synchronize the staging database using SSIS to first copy the app db structure to the staging db.

Drag and drop the Execute Process Task (Control Flow Item) onto the Control Flow area.
Right click and select edit. The Execute Process Task Editor will open.
Select Process in the left pane.
Enter the location of the executable (one of the circled fields in the image).
Enter the argument for the PPSCmd command utility.
Click OK.

You might be safer to synchronize all dimensions. In that case, your argument would look like the following.

StagingDB /Operation SynchronizeData /Server http://localhost:46787 /Path <path> /Collection dimensions

...TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK

Life cycle of a Planning Server application -a gold nugget

normbi — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 06:43:56 GMT

The online documentation for PerformancePoint Planning and Monitoring (includes Analytics) is good. If you disagree, click on Contact Us and give us some feedback. There are some topics that I consider golden nuggets. In this post I want to summarize one of those great topics; Life cycle of a Planning Server application.

Companies that will incorporate PPS Planning are taking a larger project than incorporating Monitoring largely because there is a great deal of organizing that happens at the technical, business, organizational, and executive levels. This topic covers the technical side by the complete life cycle of the implementation of Planning Server which includes a Proof-of-Concept (POC) phase, design phase, Testing phase, Pre-production phase, and Production phase.

For each phase, a topology recommendation is given. By the way, there are other tools that help in the other areas such as a questionnaire used as a roadmap for organizing models, business rules, and other items in PPS Planning (maybe I will explain in another blog).

Here is a useful diagram that shows the Design phase migrated to the pre-production phase.

The following are steps provided which explain the diagram above. Be sure to read here to get the details.

Step 1: Install and Configure

Step 2: Planning Server configuration

Step 3: Content Design

Step 4: ETL Process

Step 5: Business Process Design

Step 6: Deploy the Model Site

Step 7: Testing

There is also a migration overview and summarized steps. Like I said, this is a great article and worth reading. Enjoy !

Many-to-many relationship between dimensions in PerformancePoint Server

normbi — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:42:16 GMT

Technically there is no way to create a many-to-many dimension relationship in PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler. Here is what a senior development lead at Microsoft says to do for incorporating a many-to-many relationship.

"PPS Planning does not currently support many-to-many dimension relationships. However, it can be implemented something like below (I haven’t tried it so there’s bound to be a few missing steps, so full execution is left as an exercise to the reader(s)).

1) Create a dimension to hold the many-to-many mappings (eg. Mapping/association). You add two “Member of Dimension” properties, one for each of the dimensions you want to map.

2) Populate your data into the Mapping dimension via Modeler or DI.

3) Add the two dimensions to your model but not the Mapping dimension.

4) Deploy your modelsite.

5) Using BIDS, create a measure group in the model and map it to the Mapping dimension table (D_Mapping or D_<subsite>_Mapping). The mapping dimension table becomes your many-to-many fact table.

6) Create the many-to-many relationship between the two dimensions along with the above measure group.

Why this works: As long as the model does not change structurally (eg. adding/removing dimensions, changing membersets) the ModelSite deploy will not overwrite the AS cube. This was done on purpose so that cube customizations can be supported (eg. aggregation tunings). If you ever need to make a structural change (or perform a full ModelSite deployment via PPSCmd) you will need to redo the AS customizations."

Another great spot to see more on this topic is PerformancePoint forum. Click here.

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.

Adding users and Service Identity Account

normbi — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:17:00 GMT

(Norm - 12/27/07) Before I discuss the Identity account for PerformancePoint Server, I want to add that Nick Barclay covers troubleshooting permissions and the use of the Identity account very well in his blog post here.

As I read PerformancePoint deployment posts, I see a few scenarios that can prevent an administrator from adding users in the PerformancePoint Admin Console. For example, when PerformancePoint Server is installed by someone that is NOT a domain user. Now the person that installed cannot add users.

Reason: this is because the Windows user account used for the Planning Server application pool and service identity (SI) account must be a domain account. The account cannot be a group account or the local administrator account on the SQL Server computer; it must be its own distinct account with both local and domain access.

There is more information in the technical documentation about the Service Identity Accounts.

If PerformancePoint is installed by someone that is NOT a domain user, the following is a workaround provided by a Microsoft test engineer.

- Run the Configuration Manager and un-configure the system, (Remove Services Options… then on the next page check them all).

- Do not go into SQL and drop the DB’s… you can “attach” to the existing ones.

- Re-Run the Config Manager

- Choose the Distributed Configuration, (un-select Planning Server Databases… this will allow you to ATTACH to the existing DB’s)

- Since you’re re-attaching to an existing set of PPS DB’s… you won’t be asked for a GA… that’s fine.

- Specify your NEW SI Account… which is going to be a Domain Account.

- Continue with the rest of the Configuration as you normally would.

When done, you will have your SI Account switched to the new account… you should then be able to add Domain Users to your PPS System.

*A couple NOTEs:

1.) When you choose a DISTRIBUTED configuration the PPS Config Manager explicitly DENIES ‘Create Database’ permissions to the SI Account, (because a distributed system is considered a production system… so it has tighter security). So… if you want this option, (example: You want the GA to be able to automatically create apps with no IT intervention needed), your DBA will need to go into SQL and re-grant this Permission.

2.) When you change SI Accounts, the Config Manager only ‘touches’ the PPS System and Service DB’s. you will need to go into each of your actual Application DB’s and run a stored proc called ‘bsp_AssignSIPermissionsAppDB’ in order to grant the new SI Account the proper permissions to your existing App DB’s. You may also need to go in and map the NEW SI Account to the Staging DB so that the new SI Account is DBO on the Staging DB.