The four authors of PerformancePoint Services 2010 Unleashed have done a splendid job of giving PerformancePoint 2010 the attention that a fully integrated SharePoint service application, dedicated to business intelligence, deserves. SharePoint Server 2010 helps users to create KPIs, scorecards, reports, and dashboards that meet team and organizational needs.  The following are areas that I enjoy about the book:

  • New customers to PerformancePoint Services 2010 and business intelligence will find coverage of key concepts in the introduction about performance management methodologies.
  • The authors have done well to cover what’s new, what’s the same, and what was removed as compared to PerformancePoint Server 2007.
  • There is a best practices section for each chapter that covers installation, Dashboard Designer for creating a dashboard, data sources, indicators, KPIs, scorecards, page filters, reports, advantages of SharePoint integration, and maintaining a PerformancePoint deployment. To see the table of contents and the first few pages, click on see inside this book.
  • There are some great diagrams that will help users conceptualize dimensions and measures as they are surfaced as measures in a scorecard.
  • Applying the necessary security in a PerformancePoint Services configuration.
  • Lastly, I enjoyed drilling into specific areas such as using a SharePoint list as a data source. I used this section as I wrote my own article (to be published shortly) about connecting Performance Point Services to Oracle data sources using Business Connectivity Services.

I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

The book adds value to TechNet articles on PerformancePoint Services, such as:

Plan for PerformancePoint Services (SharePoint Server 2010)
PerformancePoint Services administration
Business intelligence basics
Choosing a business intelligence tool in SharePoint Server
Architecture for business intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010
Secure Store for Business Intelligence service applications