- A New Day for Business Intelligence
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SharePoint Insights enables users to find the information they need across unstructured assets (blogs, wikis, presentations, documents) and structured assets (reports, spreadsheets, analytical systems). Empower users to discover the right people and expertise to make better informed and more agile business decisions.
What’s really exciting is that this is now a reality and not just some marketing speak or fabricated in a sales demo. SharePoint 2010 brings your informal and formal information together to enable users to access the information they need, and make timely, more relevant business decisions. After all, what happens when you get more information. You ask more questions and SharePoint 2010 provides the platform for your users to continuously ask the questions to get the insights they need and move the business forward. Users can create, deliver, and share their own business views and by mashing-up the data that’s relevant to them, securely maintained by IT.
At the conference, we announced and showed a number of new capabilities pertinent to your Business Intelligence discussions. The first, Project Gemini, is now called SQL Server PowerPivot for Excel and SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint. Check out the the information posted on www.powerpivot.com. Secondly, at SharePoint conference we displayed the new PerformancePoint Services inside of SharePoint. PPS is now a service in SharePoint and available in SharePoint 2010 to create contextual-driven dashboards and scorecards. This will not only consolidate information from multiple systems, but also from multiple content. Sat tuned, there’s more including Excel Services, Visio Services, Chart web parts, and the Business Connectivity Services.
Check out the SharePoint Insights page and download the new datasheet and whitepaper to help you start thinking about what SharePoint 2010 can help your organizations use Business Intelligence. Check out the Excel and PerfromancePoint Blogs for more updates and check back here soon.
- Business Intelligence @ SharePoint Conference 2009
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We’ve completely sold out SPC’09. That’s over 7000+ SharePoint experts, enthusiasts, developers, partners, everyday users, MVPs, and everyone else who wants to learn and talk about SharePoint. See you in T-Minus 7 days at the largest SharePoint conference EVER!!
Wanted to also share with you a sneak peak of the Insights sessions (Business Intelligence). We have lots to talk about including Project Gemini, PerformancePoint Services, Excel and Excel Services, Reporting Services and Report Builder 3.0 in SQL Server 2008R2 That’s in addition to all the other great SharePoint talks, customer sessions, and partners who are deploying and building solutions that enable greater insights!
You’ll definitely want to register for Microsoft Vision and Strategy session to hear Tom Casey discuss the direction and investments Microsoft is making in its Business Intelligence strategy, what you can expect in the upcoming release, and where we are heading as we democratize business intelligence and bring it to the masses in your organization. As an added incentive, we’re going to give away an XBOX 360 during the session so be sure to grab your ticket. Download the full brochure here.
Look forward to seeing you there, Pej.
- SharePoint Conference 2009
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If you haven’t registered for the conference (yet), or receiving the news feed, check out the recent blog post on the SharePoint team site which reveals another sneak peak at the sessions that will be at the event.
For those who have asked me what’s going to be covered for Business Intelligence, all I can say is that there will be a lot of content spanning Office, SharePoint and SQL Server capabilities. We will definitely be talking about Project Gemini, and how PerformancePoint Services is part of SharePoint Server 2010. You’ll hear first hand about the new technologies and get a chance to meet and discuss this with the product teams. We’ll also have a great product area in the pavilion which you’ll definitely not want to miss. There will be host of us tweeting so check for #SPC09 as well as blogging so stay focused here.
If you are attending, why not let everyone know with the images below. Check out www.mssharepointconference.com for more info and I look forward to seeing you there next month.
The SharePoint Business Intelligence Team
- Excel and Gemini
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Head on over to Thomas’ blog where he outlines his use of Excel 2010 and Gemini in analyzing some football data. Thomas sums it up perfectly with
Gemini is not only about analyzing large amount of data but also about getting relational storage capacities naitivly in Excel 2010. It is that functionality that let you build quick structures for analyzing data that can be a complement to the classical data warehouse approach.
If you haven’t heard about Gemini yet, check out these videos.
Intro to Gemini part 1
Intro to Gemini part 2
- SharePoint in plain English
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I get this a lot. Just what is SharePoint?
Check out this cool video and then let me now what SharePoint is to you in the comments below!
SharePoint in Plain English
- What to know more about the Office 2010 Technical Preview
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Then head on over to http://www.microsoft.com/officebusiness/office2010/Default.aspx for a quick sneak peek of some of the features that are being highlighted. Be sure to check out Project “Gemini” and how you too can be building powerful analytical applications using Excel 2010.
And remember to check http://sharepoint.microsoft.com for the latest on SharePoint 2010.
![Gemini[1]](http://blogs.msdn.com/blogfiles/sharepointbi/WindowsLiveWriter/WhattoknowmoreabouttheOffice2010Technica_391/Gemini%5B1%5D_thumb.jpg "Gemini[1]")
- Business Intelligence at Super Bowl XLIII
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Yes. I know what you are all thinking. Of course there is Business Intelligence at the Super Bowl. Teams use it to determine their 
strategies such as weighing the risks of various plays to tip the outcome of the gridiron in their favor. I am sure the concession vendors used it as well in determining the right prices for their products, what promotions to run leading up to the main event, and so on. But so too did the Tampa Police department, the agency responsible for the security of the event, the fans, and residence of Tampa. Using technology developed by E-Sponder, built on SharePoint Server 2007, and other Microsoft technologies including Microsoft Virtual Earth, and Microsoft Surface, the Tampa Police department were able to have a consolidated view of information, and real-time intelligence in order to respond in an effective manner. This highly collaborative solution not only demonstrates the need for real-time information, but also how multiple technologies come together providing the necessary insights needed to manage such a major event - search, content management, collaboration, and reporting. Not to mention saving tax-payers money in the process of protecting their beautiful city, and one of the most pinnacle sporting events. This is a great case study, which I hope you find equally as interesting, and more importantly, inspiring you to see what you can accomplish today. Check it out here. Click the Tampa Police logo for more information about the City of Tampa Police department.
- Sneak peek of SharePoint 2010
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Wanted to let you all know that we have made available 3 sneak peak videos showcasing some of the new features of SharePoint 2010, the business collaboration platform for the Enterprise and the Web . Posted, you’ll find videos that cover an Overview, IT Professional, and Developer highlighting some 22 features in all, which is just a smidgen of what’s in the release. Of the features shown, check out the new Business Connectivity Services capabilities (an evolution of the Business Data Catalog) and start thinking about how you can bring data into SharePoint, reuse it, and enable your users to gain the insight they need right within the browser with full CRUD support; new Visio Services – that’s right, web-based Visio diagrams now right in SharePoint; and a new Silverlight Web Part allowing you to quickly and easily integrate rich applications in SharePoint. Enough of me rambling… check out the videos and the new capabilities and let me know what you think, and of the new “capabilities” diagram
What to learn more about SharePoint 2010? Head on over to Get Ready section and sign-up for the SharePoint Conference 2009 where we will be discussing everything SharePoint!!
- SSRS Integrated mode with SharePoint and Report Builder 2.0
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Wanted to draw attention to some new features the SQL Server team released in the latest Service Pack for SQL Server 2008. Specifically, the click-once integration of Report Builder within SharePoint.
If you are not running SSRS in Integrated mode with SharePoint, what are you waiting for? You’ll get all the benefits of SharePoint document management for your reports, and now, make it even easier for your users to create and publish their own reports. Here’s what you do:
You’ll need the SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies, April 2009. A mouthful I know, but you won’t be disappointed.
Before you install this on your SharePoint servers, ensure you have configured the Report Server to use SharePoint integrated mode.
Now install the Reporting Services add-in in your SharePoint environment. Once completed, head on over to the SharePoint Central Administration page to configure the add-in. Under the Application Management tab, you should now see a new area called Reporting Services with three main items. 
Let’s configure each one in turn. Click on “Grant database access”. First, identify where the Report Server exists, and the name of the instance you wish to connect too.
Next, select “Manage integration settings” and specify the URL of the Report Server to be used with this SharePoint site and authentication method.
Lastly, you can change the default settings for the server by selecting “Set server defaults”, including limiting the number of snapshots, enable ad-hoc reporting (this should be checked), and auditing settings. You can leave the Custom Report Builder Launch URL blank, which will allow users to use Report Builder 1.0, or add the following to enabler Report Builder 2.0 “/_vti_bin/ReportBuilder/ReportBuilder_2_0_0_0.application.”
Now the Report Server is configured to work with SharePoint, and we have specified the version of Report Builder we want to use. We will need to activate the Report Server features for your site collection. You can do this by going to Site Actions –> Site Settings –> Modify All Site Settings. Under Site Collection Administration column, select Site collection features and then activate the Report Server integration Feature.
Let’s now add the content types to our document library. From the menu of the Document Library, select Settings, then Document Library settings, navigate to Content Types, and select Add from existing site content types
From the drop down menu, select Report Server Content Types, and then add the items you want displayed when a user clicks on the New button in the document library. Once you have selected the right items for your document library, click OK. You can modify the order, and change the default New behavior as well once you are back to the Customize document area.
Go back to your document library and now when you click the down arrow next to the New icon, the content types you selected are now visible.
If you now select the Report Builder Report, Report Builder will begin to deploy to your desktop and in a few seconds, will allow you to start authoring a report. That’s pretty much it. You have now enabled the click-once functionality for Report Builder and integrated it with your SharePoint document library and site. Be sure to check out the click once readme for additional items, and troubleshooting tips.
- TechEd 2009
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Just got back from TechEd 2009. Some great sessions and discussions. For those who attended, love to hear your feedback and comments. Here’s a list of SharePoint BI sessions that if you didn’t get a chance to see, I highly recommend:
Check out other sessions, and keynotes at the TechEd Online website
- Welcome!
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Welcome to the new SharePoint Business Intelligence blog. With the exciting changes taking place in Microsoft Business Intelligence, I wanted to be able to discuss the key things with you that are happening in SharePoint BI, and how you can learn about them from across the company. Expect to see guest posts and videos, demonstrations, and news. Welcome your feedback and input as we discuss Business Intelligence in SharePoint.
