The 'I' in BI

I would recommend taking a look at the BI Blog right now. Loving the Videos that Nic Smith has posted on there from TechEd with sneak previews of Gemini and the Power Hour…so easy to watch and brings the world of BI to life :) little snippet below…

http://blogs.msdn.com/bi/ 

Want to find out more about Microsoft Financing but don’t know where to start? This new Learning Path provides the training, tools and resources you and your partners need to offer Microsoft Financing to customers today, click here to access.

If you have Microsoft Financing questions and you are a Microsoft partner, call Ask Partner tel: 0870 60 70 700

Reach New Levels of Efficiency with Company-wide Reporting, Thorogood Associates

Thursday, May 21^st

12:00 – 1:00 PM ET (US)

Distribute web-based reports throughout the enterprise using Microsoft Reporting Services 2008.  Client Case Study: A Research & Development organization provides an innovative benchmarking service for Pharmaceutical R&D.

Register here

Attendee Link

Looking to attend a few events over the next few months, take a look at these in the Partner community:

Event Link

BY ATTENDING THE SEMINAR YOU WILL LEARN:

• More about the product features and capability of MOSS 2007.
• How to develop a successful intranet strategy.
• How to maximise the benefits of implementing SharePoint and BI reporting tools across your organisation.
• How Otsuka, a leading pharmaceutical company, implemented MOSS 2007 and the lessons they learnt along the way.
• Why business intelligence could give you the competitive edge in a recession.
• Where your organisation is on the business intelligence maturity map – and next steps to take.

For a BI Specific Webinar: http://www.concentra.co.uk/businessintelligence_webinar.aspx?event=20090512 

Blackmarble presents: Think Small to Win Big with SharePoint

Event Link

Black Marble and Microsoft are demonstrating how small efficiencies can add up to big savings through the Microsoft family of collaboration tools. Drawing on the wealth of knowledge created by a collaborative project between Microsoft and the NHS (the Common User Interface Programme), Black Marble are running a series of knowledge workshops for NHS managers to show how effective deployment of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and related technologies can energise staff in all areas.

The Workshops will take place in Liverpool on the 20th May and repeated in Bradford on the 21st May.  Registration is from 9:30am, with the workshop due to begin at 10am and end at 2pm with lunch included. If you have any queries, or wish to register, please call 0845 644 7656.

Thinking bigger..how about attending the Microsoft SharePoint Conference in Las Vegas this year..

The SharePoint Conference announces expanded coverage of Business Intelligence topics at the 2009 SharePoint Conference.
With the BI conference moving to be held bi-annually, the SharePoint Conference is expanding its BI track to provide core coverage of BI content. Come to the SharePoint Conference to learn all about new BI capabilities in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

For more information on what's included and how to register go to: http://www.mssharepointconference.com/pages/default.aspx

We have set up a Live Meeting  section on the portal to host Live Meetings for Partners – called the Live Series. You may or may not have heard of these... but here they are if you haven’t.

Partners will also be able to view the on demand recordings of each Live Meeting post event. 

Here are the links to the up and coming events some will require a partner log in for access.

LiveSeries Partner Live Meeting Programme (www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/liveseries):

· Tuesday 12 May - BPOS – what is it and how do partners make money from it?

· Wednesday 13th May 2009, 2pm - 3pm - Securing OCS Solutions

· Wednesday 13 May 2009 3pm - 4pm - CSAT Index: Effectively Measure Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

· Monday 18^th May 2009  4pm - 5pm – System Centre technologies with Exchange Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007

· Wednesday 20th May 2009, 2pm - 3pm - Using Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) to provide secure remote access to applications

· Wednesday 3rd June 2009 4pm - 5pm - Capabilities and Value of Windows SharePoint Services

· Thursday 4^th June 4pm – 5pm - Server 2008 R2 – What’s New and where is the opportunity for Partners

· 10th June 2009 4pm-5pm - Capabilities and Value of MOSS Standard SAL

· 17th June 2009 4pm-5pm - Capabilities and Value of MOSS Enterprise SAL

· Tuesday 21st July 3pm - 4pm - CSAT Index: Effectively Measure Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

· Wednesday 26th August 2009 3pm - 4pm - CSAT Index: Effectively Measure Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

For those of you that are outdoor enthusiasts, I thought i would share a bit about my interests outside of BI

At the end of May I will be taking part in an Adventure Race called RAID in FRANCE with my other 3 team mates and 2 support crew. A 7 day extreme outdoors race from the Alps to the Mediterranean Sea. A combination of activities from trekking, mountain biking, horse riding, canyoning, kayaking and all out survival is involved. This race is part of the World Series in Adventure Racing and is designed to test physical and mental strength in some of the most breathtaking views of France. As my first big race, I hope to come back alive!

To find out more, or if you are interested in taking part next year for yourself..click on the snapshot below.

There is also a video to watch here: http://www.raidinfrance.com/gb/news.php

A live meeting has been recorded on Microsoft ECAL.. what is it and what does it mean to you..

The recording is now available below, its just under an hour and very useful

The content includes:

- What is the ECAL?

- What is its value to a customer?

- What is the value to partner’s understanding ECAL

- What is the licensing?

Delegate/Registration link-

http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032413666&Culture=en-GB

Jessica Meats, one of our Partner Technology Specialists at Microsoft will be delivering two SharePoint training sessions at TVP.

I will be running two SharePoint training sessions for partners during March on the 18th and the 30th at the UK campus in Reading. These will be introductory and overview sessions intended to cover the whole of the SharePoint platform and give a good understanding of SharePoint's capabilities and value.

They are not going to be deeply technical and should be good for business managers considering investing in a SharePoint offering or sales people wanting to know how to explain the value.

If you are interested and are a registered Microsoft partner, please go to the Partner Learning Center and register for the event.

Check out her Blog for more details: http://blogs.technet.com/JessMeats/

For those of you looking for a Gold partner to work with in the performance management arena to compliment the Microsoft BI platform. Take a look at CALUMO.

CALUMO is a Microsoft Gold partner that specializes in delivering Performance Management Solutions powered by the Microsoft BI platform.

CALUMO features include:
- Planning input forms – Excel or Web based
- Self Service Reporting and Analysis - Ad-hoc (pivot) browse and dynamic reports
- Excel and Web client for ad-hoc browse, reports and input forms
- Simple, flexible architecture – Write-back over any SQL Server Analysis Services cube structures
- Support for: Drill Down (Members), Drill Through (Transactions or Cubes), Grids, Charts, Freeze frames, Text management, Conditional formats, Dashboard components (KPI’s spark charts etc) Slice to Excel and more.
- Seamless integration with SharePoint, Excel and Internet Explorer combined with a truly unified data architecture provided through SQL Server
- no interference with SSAS allowing users to surface information directly from SSAS without intermediate data or transformation layers

CALUMO is interested in talking to Partners who have a pioneering Vision.

To find out more visit the CALUMO website http://www.calumo.com/locations.html or send an email to John Shrimpton jshrimpton@calumo.com

Achieving Microsoft Licensing Accreditations including the Microsoft Licensing Sales Specialist (MLSS) and Microsoft Licensing Sales Expert (MLSE)  shows that partners understand both our licensing programmes as well as the licensing of our products, helping you to become a trusted advisor to your customers. We're updating the MLSS and MLSE accreditations to reflect our latest technologies. The updated MLSS exams will be available for you to take from week commencing 23 February 2009 while the update MLSE exams will be available from week commencing 2 March 2009.

In response to partner feedback requesting the simplification of our licensing accreditations, we have also created a new 'starter' accreditation - Microsoft Licensing Sales Specialist Lite (MLSS Lite). Partners can take the MLSS Lite exams as of week commencing 16 February 2009.

If you have any queries, they can call Ask Partner Tel: 0870 60 70 700 or email: askpartner@microsoft-contact.co.uk. Alternatively click here for further information.

The Business Advisor series is a set of podcasts featuring advice-led commentary from Microsoft executives, independent experts and partners. Issues covered in these podcasts include: cost-effective marketing; business planning; how to cut costs without reducing productivity or efficiency; and how to drive and close more sales in a tougher economic climate.

Hear from Microsoft’s Scott Dodds; organisations such as Resource IT, the Telegraph Business Club and Business-Scene; and from partners, BSG, Monochrome, Global Knowledge and Black Marble.  Please promote these resources with your Partners, click here to access.

This readiness covers both Sales & Technical aspects and is split into the Solutions areas below.

And ... don’t forget  Certification is a great way to demonstrate your skills.

And ...  you can search the Partner Learning Centre for courses ... https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search.aspx

· BPIO – Instructor led workshops ...  Places available    ...  PLUS ... On-line BPIO  courses!

· Enterprise Project Management  - Instructor led workshops ...  Places available     .... PLUS ... On-line BPIO EPM  courses!

· BPOS- Business Productivity Online Services – Instructor led workshops ...  Places available      ... PLUS ... On-line courses!

· Unified Communications – Instructor led workshops ...  Places available      ... PLUS ... On-line courses!

· Microsoft Office - InfoPath – Instructor led workshops ...  Places available

· Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 – Instructor led workshops ...  Places available      ... PLUS ... On-line courses!

· APO – Application Platform Optimisation – On-line courses!

As some Partners are looking at reducing their Travel and Expenses costs I have included some Online materials... more in March.

Limited-time offer just for Microsoft Certified and Gold Certified partners.

Build expertise and prepare for 2007 Microsoft Office system exams by taking advantage of free Microsoft E-learning course collections. Check this link to see a listing of the courses that are available in this collection.

Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization (BPIO) University is compromised of self-paced online and instructor-led training designed to help you and your team develop and broaden your technical expertise, increase your ability to sell and implement cross-platform solutions, and enable and enhance business-value conversations with your customers about Microsoft technologies, including the 2007 Microsoft Office system.  The major objectives of the project include the delivery of eight  video “vignettes”, delivered by subject matter experts and outlining the opportunity and overview of each of the eight BPIO modules.

www.msbpio.com/online is the official landing site for BPIO U Online

BPIO Sales University – On-line Courses

A fundamental introduction and overview of Infrastructure Optimization and BPIO University. Focuses on the two key pillars of BPIO: Easy Powerful IW Experiences and IT Flexibility and Control as well as guidance on how to use the latest tools and resources from Microsoft

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1850967&page=/plc/search.aspx

Infrastructure Optimization: Essentials – (Level 100)

This course will provide Microsoft partners information to link their customers’ business needs to the many exciting possibilities that Infrastructure Optimization can offer them. At the end of the course the partners will be able to:

- Identify the customer IO profiles for three IO models

- Identify how IO models help you define customer challenges and highest impact opportunities

- Identify how partners can work with Microsoft to leverage the value of IO profiling

- Learn about the Microsoft resources available to service prospects and customers

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1739068&page=/plc/search_adv.aspx#

Microsoft Learning

http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/

Business Productivity Online Services courses, BPOS

· Product Training – Understand Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite

Microsoft Online Services Training Webcast

· White Paper – Read the new Microsoft Online Services whitepaper

Microsoft Online Services: Giving Businesses a New Choice for Productivity White Paper (PDF, 350 KB)

· Quick Reference Card – Use this concise guide to reference key advantages and handle specific objections

Quick Reference Card (PDF, 311 KB)

· Summary – Top 10 business advantages a customer can achieve by subscribing to Microsoft Online Services

Microsoft Online Services Top 10 (PDF, 260 KB)

44CO097 - Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 Planning: Implementation Workshop I and Monitoring and Analytics (5 day Fastrack Course)

44CO097 - Microsoft® Office PerformancePoint™ Server 2007 Planning: Implementation Workshop I and Monitoring and Analytics (5 day Fastrack Course)Introduction This 5 day Fastrack course combines the content from the 4.5 day “PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning: Implementation Workshop I” and the 2 day “PerformancePoint Server 2007 Monitoring and Analytics” Course.The “PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning: Implementation Workshop I” course wal

Total hours: 36

Location: Xpertise Altrincham

To register, click on the link below:

https://training.Partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=254142

http://www.microsoft.com/bi/aboutbi/default.aspx