The Riyaz Blog

PerformancePoint training resources

riyazj — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:40:08 GMT

The fastest way to learn the basics of PerformancePoint Server 2007 is through these self-directed learning courses, which have been designed to give a quick start on building your performance management solution.

Technical Information:

Partner Ready Link: http://www.msreadiness.com/custompage.aspx?pageid=1568

Public Link: http://www.microsoft.com/business/performancepoint/resources/training.aspx

Online Training: Online Training

Exam 70-556: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Exam 70-556 Now Available!

The certification exam necessary to achieve the Performance Management Specialization under the Information Worker Solutions Competency is now available. Prep for the exam with self-directed learning courses, which have been designed to give you a quick start on building your performance management solution.

Microsoft Business Intelligence R5 Demo VPC Now Available!

This demo image (R5) showcases Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. R5 illustrates three BI workloads: data warehousing, reporting and analysis, and performance management.

Microsoft Business Intelligence Bootcamp Web Series for Partners – On-Demand Webcast Series

Partners will learn what the Partner Opportunities are related to selling and implementing Microsoft BI and how they can position Microsoft BI effectively. They will hear about Microsoft’s Business Intelligence Vision and how they can demonstrate Microsoft’s current BI offerings. Partners will understand what is available in Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 and what’s in store regarding BI in the Microsoft Partner Program.

Virtual Labs

View the available Virtual Labs for Microsoft Business Intelligence.

The most in-depth technical information about PerformancePoint Server 2007

PerformancePoint Server 2007 TechCenter

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Developer Center

The PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning & Architecture Guide, Deployment Guide, and Operations Guide are now available as downloadable books.

Technical Blogs:

The PerformancePoint Product Team Blog
Focus: monitoring and analytics

Kevin White's PerformancePoint Server 2007 Blog
Focus: planning

Forums:

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server

Planning

This forum focuses on the Planning portion of PerformancePoint Server

Monitoring and Analytics

This forum focuses on the monitoring and analytics portion of PerformancePoint Server

Webcasts:

View these on-demand webcasts to learn more about how the integrated monitoring, analytics, and planning features in Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help manage and improve an organization's performance.

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Webcasts

Visit the MS Events site to see a list of popular BI and PerformancePoint Server 2007 Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: Performance Management with PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Level 200)

In this webcast, we explore how Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help corporations improve their business performance process by integrating monitoring, analysis, and planning capabilities into one application. Join this session to learn about pains customers commonly experience with performance management, and how PerformancePoint Server 2007 enables businesses to deliver performance management capabilities broadly by providing an application that is easy to use and less costly to deploy than traditional solutions.

TechNet Webcast: Strategic Planning and Scorecarding with PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Level 300)

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help organizations improve their business performance by integrating monitoring, analysis, and planning capabilities into one application. The objective of the strategic planning process is to provide a broad ranging review of all the factors that might impact the company's performance and to finish with the production of a strategic plan. Join this session to gain an understanding of key challenges, understand the strategic planning process, and see how PerformancePoint Server 2007 supports this process.

TechNet Webcast: Customer and Product Monitoring with PerformancePoint Server 2007 (Level 300)

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help organizations improve their business performance by integrating monitoring, analysis, and planning capabilities into one application. In this session, we examine the process by which companies review, evaluate, and manage performance across products and customers. We show you how to combine diverse data sources into a coherent data model to enable monitoring and analysis of exceptions through performance dashboards. Gain an understanding of challenges faced by businesses today, the monitoring and analytic process, and see how PerformancePoint Server 2007 supports this process.

Top 10 Benefits of PerformancePoint Server 2007

The top 10 benefits of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help transform business processes and turn data into a competitive advantage.

Data Sheets

Data Sheet for Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 – Planning

Get a brief overview of the dynamic planning, budgeting, and forecasting capabilities in Office PerformancePoint Server 2007.

Data Sheet for Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 – Monitoring

Get a brief overview of monitoring capabilities in Office PerformancePoint Server 2007.

Data Sheet for Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 - Analytics

Get a brief overview of analytic capabilities in Office PerformancePoint Server 2007.

Data Sheet for Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 – Management Reporting

See how Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 can help you easily consolidate and share key business data across your organization.

Licensing

Need to quickly understand and clearly articulate the licensing options available for Office PerformancePoint Server 2007? Visit these sites for details.

PPS licensing site

Volume Licensing site

PerformancePoint 2007 Demos

Find out more about Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and view the integrated Microsoft Business Intelligence and performance management offerings in action.

Introduction to Microsoft Business Intelligence

Get an idea of the broad capabilities of Microsoft Business Intelligence and how it can help you run your business more effectively.

Why Is Business Intelligence Important?

Watch this informative discussion with Bill Baker, PerformancePoint Server 2007 general manager, on the value of the complete Microsoft Business Intelligence and performance management offering.

Books on Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

The Rational Guide to Monitoring and Analyzing with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

The Rational Guide to Planning with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Partner Training - Business Intelligence

riyazj — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:54:33 GMT

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (10/10): Building a cube from scratch
Web Seminars (Live)
1/30/2008

Learn how to engage with your customers on the latest Server & Tools products!
Web Seminars (Live)
2/12/2008

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (9/10): Data Warehousing
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/29/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (8/10): Reporting Services
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/28/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (7/10): Business Intelligence overview
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/25/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (6/10): Security
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/24/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (5/10): Manageability
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/23/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (4/10): High Availability
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/22/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Microsoft® SQL Server™ 2008 Training for ISV Developers (3/10): Introduction
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/21/2008)

Prepare for the Server & Tools Launch: Ride the 2008 Launch Wave!
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/15/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Business Intelligence. Expect More From Your Database 4/4: Building your Business Intelligence (BI) Applications on the Microsoft® Platform – The NXT Offer: Helping you make the move featuring NXT Partner Symmetry’s BI POC offer for ISVs
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/11/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: SQL Server™ 2008 – Business Intelligence for the Business Decision Maker (2/10)
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/9/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Business Intelligence. Expect More From Your Database 3/4: Building your Business Intelligence (BI) Applications on the Microsoft® Platform – Gearing up your application for BI
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/9/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: SQL Server™ 2008 – An Introduction for the Business Decision Maker (1/10)
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/8/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Business Intelligence. Expect More From Your Database 2/4: Building your Business Intelligence (BI) Applications on the Microsoft® Platform – Creating your evaluation roadmap
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/8/2008)

Microsoft Incentives: New Promotions and Offers to Help You Close Business! (January -March 2008 Update)
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/8/2008)

ISV Innovation Presents: Business Intelligence. Expect More From Your Database 1/4: Building your Business Intelligence (BI) Applications on the Microsoft® Platform – Integration and Interoperability
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (1/7/2008)

BI Bootcamp Series Part 6: The Microsoft BI Partner Opportunity
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (12/18/2007)

BI Bootcamp Series Part 5: What is available with PerformancePoint Server 2007?
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (12/13/2007)

BI Bootcamp Series Part 4: Microsoft’s BI Vision and Go To Market Strategy
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (12/12/2007)

BI Bootcamp Series Part 2: BI in the Microsoft Partner Program and Partner Resources
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (12/6/2007)

BI Bootcamp Series Part 1: Selling and Positioning Microsoft BI
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (12/4/2007)

The Value of Selling SQL 2005 Today!
Web Seminars (On Demand)
Available Now! (11/13/2007)

SQL Server 2008 Webcasts

riyazj — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 05:29:04 GMT

Here are some of SQL Server 2008 Webcasts:

Series: (1 of 3) High-Performance Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008
Attend this session to learn more about how to incorporate the new features in SQL Server 2008 to provide a high-performance DW that can scale to a larger number of users and growing volumes of data. In this session, we will cover new technologies like Partitioned Table Parallelism, Star Join Query Enhancements, and Grouping Sets.
Audience: Technical
Series: (2 of 3) Manage Large-Scale Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2008
Attend this session to learn more about how to incorporate the new features in SQL Server 2008 to manage large-scale DW that can scale to a larger number of users and growing volumes of data. In this session, we will cover new technologies like Resource Governor, Data Compression, and Enhanced Indexed Views.
Audience: Technical
Series: (3 of 3) Integrate Growing Data Volumes with SQL Server 2008
Attend this session to learn how to integrate growing volumes of data with the new enhancements in SQL Server 2008. We will cover new technologies like Change Data Capture, MERGE SQL statement, and scalability improvements in SQL Server Integration Services like Lookup Enhancements and Data Profiling.
Audience: Technical
Mastering Time Series Prediction with SQL Server 2008 Data Mining
Time series data is one of the most useful sources for data mining. Whether estimating future gasoline prices, or understanding the relationship between the weather and sales, there is a role for time series analysis. In the new release of SQL Server 2008 Data Mining, Microsoft has introduced some important enhancements to our support in this area, making powerful analysis both more effective and easier to use. This webcast not only introduces these new features, but also covers in useful data many of the business scenarios for which time series prediction is invaluable.
Audience: Mid-level
Building and validating advanced mining models with SQL Server 2008 Data Mining
SQL Server 2008 includes several important enhancements for Data Mining. One area will be of particular interest to users who have progressed beyond simple models: There are new features for building many and varied models over common mining structures, and also for validating the accuracy of these models. In this webcast you will learn how to use these new techniques not only through the user interface, but also programmatically from within your own applications.
Audience: Technical
Rich Report Design with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
Join this webcast to learn more about the report authoring capabilities that is to be delivered with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services. We will provide a deep dive on designing reports with Reporting Services 2008. You will learn about all of the new features and usability enhancements in report design. Have you heard about Tablix? Come find out exactly what it is and how it will make report authoring much easier and more powerful.
Audience: Mid-level
The Value of Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2008
As the platform for the end-to-end Microsoft Business Intelligence offering, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 builds on the strong momentum in the business intelligence (BI) market. Attend this session to gain insight into the new key features available in the next release of SQL Server and realize how the scalable BI infrastructure SQL Server 2008 will help enable information technology to drive business intelligence throughout your organization and deliver intelligence where users want it.
Audience: High-level
Advanced Manageability for Analysis Services 2008
The next release of Analysis Services, with SQL Server 2008, includes advanced features for manageability including Dynamic Management Views.” These views enable the administrator to query for information regarding connections, sessions, and server performance. In this webcast, we will introduce these views, and will drill into many examples of their usage. You’ll learn not only what views are available, but also how to build effective queries, reports and even cubes which can be used to understand and monitor the behavior of you Analysis Services servers.
Audience: Mid-level

Data Warehousing Webcast

The Next Release of Microsoft SQL Server: Data Warehousing Enhancements
Learn about the enhancements in the next version SQL Server for Data Warehousing. The next version of SQL Server provides a comprehensive, scalable Data Warehouse platform that enables organizations to build your DW faster with data integration platform, manage your growing data volumes with an enterprise ready relational database and deliver actionable insights with the integration with the Microsoft BI platform.
Audience: Technical

To view all SQL Server 2008 Webcasts, visit following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/2008/learning/webcasts.mspx

SQL Server 2008 - Learning

riyazj — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:18:45 GMT

SQL Server 2008 - Learning

Discover a wealth of SQL Server 2008 learning tools and information. The "future version" of the SQL Server website will be updated frequently as new tools and information become available for SQL Server 2008.

Discover

SQL Server 2008 offers a comprehensive set of features and technologies. Take a first look through webcasts, guided tours and demos, and discover a wealth of information at your fingertips.

Try

Experience SQL Server 2008 enhancements first-hand. Virtual labs provide full access to released SQL Server 2008 features from your desktop, without complex setup or installation requirements.

Virtual Labs

Learn

Build your SQL Server 2008 skills by taking training courses. New courses will roll out over the upcoming months – check back often for updates.

What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – MS Learning e-Clinic
eBook: Introducing SQL Server 2008 – coming January 2008
View Chapter 1: Declarative Management Framework today
First Look: What's new in SQL Server 2008 – MS Learning 1-day Instructor-Led Course

Jason Morales' Microsoft BI Update v.15 - December

riyazj — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 04:22:51 GMT

Monthly Microsoft BI newsletter by Jason Morales

Hot Topics

Business Intelligence for Everyone?

First of all, why? Business Intelligence implementations should enable business users to make better decisions quicker.

By ‘better’, we mean informed decisions supported by relevant information.

By ‘quicker’, we mean that information is more timely, more accessible and easier to understand.

Your organization will be more productive, more effective, and will grow faster when all employees are equipped to take the rights actions to succeed. When your organization’s systems and processes are aligned to enable quicker recognition and response to new trends and situations, the value of your organization rises and becomes more measurable.

What’s the value of a better decision? How does Microsoft help your organization get there?

Functionality

Microsoft Business Intelligence applications provide the necessary functionality to accommodate the critical BI needs of your organization. Your organization has a spectrum of users who each have a variety of needs, for example:

Executives – responsible for making informed business decisions
Analysts – responsible for understanding the data and conveying information insights to others
Engineers – responsible for product development
Field Agents – responsible for engaging customers

Each user applies different levels of functionality depending upon the situation – each user is a power user for some things and a casual user for others. How do you provide an application that sufficiently meets the needs of all users through the same system?

Business Intelligence does not live within one application. When BI is successful, users are compelled to act on the new insights, to dig deeper, to collaborate, to input new information, to share documentation, to respond quickly.

The Microsoft Office System offers the most complete framework to accommodate all of these functions.

Integration

It is certainly necessary to provide a platform capable of bringing a variety of data sources together so they can be accessed through a unified application. The Microsoft Platform offers market leading tools for data integration.

BUT, in order to roll out a BI initiative throughout the entire organization, the applications must integrate with the way people work every day. How does your organization’s BI application enable employees to integrate their work with the enterprise so that they can demonstrate their performance and alignment with corporate objectives?

Business Intelligence activities – such as reviewing or updating reports, analyzing data, comparing trends – only comprise an aspect of the typical day, they don’t encompass all of our daily activities.

The Microsoft Platform is designed to comprehensively integrate Business Intelligence with all of the other key activities that we perform everyday to accomplish our tasks and meet our commitments, activities like email and collaboration, workflow, search, document management, and planning.

Economics

If it’s too expensive to equip all of your users with licenses, then you need to choose who to equip. By selecting one group of users to equip and leaving other users out, organizations create major ongoing issues, such as:

Higher IT costs - those who you don’t equip compete with your organization’s IT strategy and infrastructure by pulling information into desktop databases and applications, by developing custom processes for their team or dept. that become entrenched and difficult to integrate into the enterprise; these types of deferred costs often increase exponentially for every user group left out.
Opportunities missed– who will be responsible for your organization’s next innovation? which clients are being overlooked? which production issues could have been caught months earlier? will extensive reconciliation cycles lead to surprises effecting our bottom line or budgets?
Reporting Treadmills – more time is spent organizing information than understanding it, requiring higher headcounts, data latency, greater risk of error.
Operations don’t align with Strategies – employees become overwhelmed by what they need to do and completely unaware of why they do it and how they can improve their contribution.

Some analysts note that the typical large organization owns on average 6 different BI systems – and still, more than 70% of information workers don’t use BI systems. What does this tell you about the traditional BI economic model?

Microsoft has introduced a new economic model for Business Intelligence that delivers enterprise grade BI functionality and integration at a fraction of the cost of traditional BI vendors.

*** Note: the perspective provided above has been collected from a variety of BI-related resources and discussions, but the views expressed are mine and do not represent Microsoft’s official position.

Upcoming Events

IT Executive Roadmap Tour

covering Business Intelligence (BI), Enterprise Content Management (ECM), Unified Communications (UC)

When: Jan 22 (Tue) @ 8:30am-12:30pm

Where: Winnipeg, MB

Click here to register

When: Jan 22 (Tue) @ 8:30am-12:30pm

Where: Victoria, BC

Click here to register

When: Jan 24 (Thurs) @ 8:30am-12:30pm

Where: Vancouver, BC

Click here to register

When: Jan 29 (Tue) @ 8:30am-12:30pm

Where: Calgary, AB

Click here to register

When: Jan 31 (Thurs) @ 8:30am-12:30pm

Where: Edmonton, AB

Click here to register

Performance Management Analytics – CFO Magazine Conference

When: Feb 3-5

Where: San Francisco, CA

Click here to register

Find Events & Webcasts

Upcoming Webcasts

PerformancePoint Server Demo

Click here to register:

Dec 18 @ 11am PST

Jan 15 @ 11am PST

Jan 22 @ 11am PST

SQL Server Spatial Data: Delivering Locations Intelligence

Delivered by Neudesic

When: Dec 19 (Wed) @ 11am-12pm

Click here to register

Unlock the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SQL Server

When: Jan 9 (Wed) @ 11am PST

Click here to register:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032361186%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

Driving Business Performance with Microsoft Business Intelligence

When: Jan 14 (Mon) @ 9:30am PST

Click here to register

Customer and Product Monitoring with PerformancePoint Server 2007

When: Jan 29 (Tue) @ 11:30am PST

Click here to register

Training

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Training Sites

PPS Planning, Monitoring and Analytics, online training includes videos and workbooks

BSM & ProClarity self-paced online training

Hitachi Consulting

Business Intelligence Education Services

Solid Quality Mentors

BI Courses, including SQL 2005, PPS and ProClarity

IT Mentors

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Monitoring & Analytics

Premier Knowledge Solutions

ProClarity Training

SQL Server Training Courses

Online & Instructor led

Partner Program – webcasts

Business Intelligence Using PerformancePoint Server 2007 Business Modeling (Level 200)

ISV Web Seminar Series Part 1: PPS – Leveraging PerformancePoint in your BI Solution

ISV Web Seminar Series Part 2: PPS - Planning

ISV Web Seminar Series Part 3: PPS - Monitoring

Online Training Webcasts - (keyword = performancepoint)

Resources

Microsoft BI

Whitepapers

Demos

Product Evaluations

Channel 9: Business Intelligence Platform Overview

PerformancePoint Server 2007

System Requirements

Book: The Rational Guide to Monitoring and Analyzing with…

Book: The Rational Guide to Planning with…

Book: Business Intelligence with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (not released yet)

Book: Pro PerformancePoint Server 2007: Building Business Intelligence Solutions (not released yet)

Flash Demo: Virtual Experience

Datasheets: Overview, Monitor, Analyze, Plan, Management Reporting

Case Studies: Energizer, Oticon, Skanska, Gemplus, Capella, CompUSA

Webcast: Performance Management 101 with PerformancePoint Server 2007,

Webcast: Business Intelligence with Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Webcast: Revenue Forecasting with PerformancePoint Server 2007

Video: PerformancePoint Server Team Video

Download PerformancePoint Server 2007 Evaluation Version (x86)

Download PerformancePoint Server 2007 Evaluation Version (x64)

Sample: Monitoring Data here

Sample: Planning Data here

Data Import Wizard for Microsoft Dynamics AX Tool here

Scorecard Migration Tool here

PPS Planning & Architecture Guide

ProClarity

ProClarity Forum: discussion board for ProClarity technical questions

Search the Support Knowledge Base

Microsoft ProClarity Software Developer’s Kit 6.3

Adrian Downe’s Blog – Great 7 Part Series on PPS Planning Features!

Ian Tien’s Unofficial PerformancePoint Server and Business Scorecard Manager Blog

Microsoft BI Blog – by Patrick Husting

Nick Barclay’s BI Blog –PerformancePoint Server resources

Chris Webb’s BI Blog – MDXtreme Programming

Vidas Matelis BI Blog – SQL 2005 resources

Microsoft OLAP by Mosha Pasumansky – Deep Insights into SSAS & MDX

Prologika (Teo Lachev’s Weblog) – Reporting Services insights

Direct Reports (Brian Welcker’s Weblog) - Reporting Services

The Data Puzzle – Solving the Enterprise Data Puzzle with Microsoft BI

Microsoft BI Partners

http://www.microsoft.com/bi/partners/partners.aspx

OLAP Report - summaries

Preview of PerformancePoint Server 2007

Market share analysis

SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 (Microsoft)

What is OLAP?

Commentary: Business Intelligence Competency Centers

Dimensional Relational vs. OLAP: The Final Deployment Conundrum

Analyst Reports

AMR Research: Microsoft’s Looming Impact on the Business Intelligence and Performance Management Market

Forrester Report Detail BPM Growth and Market Leadership

Gartner Research: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 Coming Soon to a Desktop Near You

Business Intelligence Virtual Labs

Try out a business intelligence virtual lab to test out the technology stack, including:

Analysis Services
Excel 2007
Business Scorecard Manager 2005 (BSM)
ProClarity
Report Builder
Integration Services
Data Mining

News Links & Press Releases

Is the newly-launched Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server suite the real deal?

Progressive Gaming to Introduce Casinolink® Enterprise Edition 3.0 at the 2007 Global Gaming Expo

Microsoft Readies SQL Server 2008

SAP Microsoft Duet has growing appeal for business users

Can You Answer These 3 Questions?

Gartner data warehouse DBMS Magic Quadrant 2007: New tools, old mantras

The Best Architecture for Business Intelligence

BI project management: Five must-have pieces of advice

Successful business intelligence secrets: BI front-end tools

Business Intelligence Roles and Responsibilities

The Road to Business-IT Alignment, Part 2

Business Intelligence and Data Delivery: Converging with SOA

High-Impact Business Intelligence Opportunities in the Financial Services Industry

Business Intelligence Consolidation Won’t Kill Innovation, Claim Execs

How Buying Changes in the New BI Landscape

Business intelligence roadmap

riyazj — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 01:11:00 GMT

Business data and business intelligence features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 enable you to connect to business data in databases and line-of-business applications, display data as information in Web Parts and SharePoint lists, find and share that information with other users, and perform business analytics and measure progress against key performance indicators. Successfully integrated business data enables business managers to increase their knowledge about business processes and improve those processes over time. This roadmap provides links to Web articles, white papers, training, blog entries, and tools to guide you in implementing the business data and business intelligence features of your site based on Office SharePoint Server 2007.

The resources presented on this page are organized in the sequence in which you should implement the business data and business intelligence features of your site:

1. Connect to business data.

2. Display business data in lists and Web Parts.

3. Create business data sites.

4. Find and share business data.

Before you begin

Before you implement business data and business intelligence features in your SharePoint site, review the following overview topics, which describe Office SharePoint Server 2007 business data and business intelligence capabilities and customization options that are available to site architects, designers, creators, and developers:

•Plan for business intelligence

•Introduction to Excel Services and Excel Web Access

Connect to business data by using data connection libraries

You connect to business data in two ways. First, you connect to a database by using a data connection library. Next, you can analyze data in a data connection library by using Excel Calculation Services and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services by using Web Parts that are displayed in a business data dashboard.

To configure an Excel Services connection to a data library, you perform the following steps:

1. Add a trusted file location.

2. Configure the Single Sign-On service.

3. Add a trusted data provider.

4. Add a trusted data connection library.

For information about techniques for configuring Excel Services connections to data connection libraries, see the following resources:

•Plan data connection management

•Plan Excel Services security

•Plan external data connections for Excel Services

•White paper: Excel Services step-by-step guides

Add a trusted file location

A trusted file location is a document library, network path, or Web site configured as a trusted repository for workbooks that are accessible by using Excel Services. For information about adding a trusted file location, see the following resource:

•Add a trusted file location

Configure the Single Sign-On service

Single sign-on authentication enables users to access multiple system resources without having to be authenticated more than once. To access workbooks using Excel Services, the Single Sign-On service must be enabled and configured with the correct Excel Services credentials. For information about techniques for configuring the Single Sign-On service for Excel Services, see the following resources:

•Start the Single Sign-On service

•Manage settings for single sign-on

Add a trusted data provider

Trusted data providers are external databases that Excel Services is explicitly configured to trust when processing data connections in workbooks. For information about techniques for adding a trusted data provider for Excel Services, see the following resource:

•Add a trusted data provider

Add a trusted data connection library

A trusted data connection library is a data connection library that the Excel Services administrator has determined is safe to access Office data connection (.odc) files. The .odc files are used to centrally manage connections to external data sources that have already been configured as trusted data providers. For information about techniques for adding a trusted data provider for Excel Services, see the following resource:

•Add a trusted data connection library

Connect to data in line-of-business applications

You can also connect to data in line-of-business applications and then display that content in lists and Web Parts. Line-of-business applications are registered in the Business Data Catalog by importing application definitions in the form of authored XML files that contain authentication, authorization, and metadata information about each application and some of its selected business data types (or entities). For information about techniques for connecting to data in line-of-business applications by using the Business Data Catalog, see the following resource:

•Business Data Catalog Information Center (developer)

Configure security for the Business Data Catalog

Before you can connect to applications and entities by using the Business Data Catalog, you must configure authentication and authorization for the Business Data Catalog. For information about techniques for configuring security for the Business Data Catalog, see the following resources:

•Configure access to business data

•Business Data Catalog authentication (developer)

•Business Data Catalog authorization (developer)

Create application definitions

For each line-of-business application with data that you want to use in your deployment, you must author an XML file that contains metadata about the application and the entities of that application that you are about to import. For information about techniques for authoring metadata, see the following resources:

•Business Data Catalog: Metadata Model (developer)

•Authoring metadata (developer)

Import application definitions

After you author an XML file with the metadata for a business application, the Business Data Catalog administrator must import the application definition. This enables the imported data to be used in SharePoint lists, Web Parts, and sites. For information about techniques for importing application definitions, see the following resources:

•How to: Import an Application Definition from XML (developer)

•Register business applications in the Business Data Catalog

•Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor, included with the August 2007 update to the SharePoint Server 2007 SDK: Software Development Kit (developer)

Design business data actions

Each imported entity for a line-of-business application in the Business Data Catalog has a default action associated with the entity called View Profile. Whenever an instance of the entity appears, a View Profile link appears. The target URL of the View Profile link includes a list of properties or data fields for the entity. The list uses a template that can be configured by the Business Data Catalog administrator. The View Profile action can also be modified by changing the target URL completely.

Other business data actions can be configured by associating a label for the action with a target URL. The target URL can be a simple page or a highly complex site customized with rich business data.

For information about techniques for configuring business data profiles and designing business data actions, see the following resources:

•Create or customize a business data profile page (information worker)

•Plan for business data profiles

•Plan business data actions

Display business data in lists and Web Parts

After you have made connections to business data by using data connection libraries and the Business Data Catalog, information workers with the correct permissions to Business Data Catalog services can use that business data in lists and Web Parts.

The Web Parts used to display business data include:

•Business Data Item Web Part

•Business Data List Web Part

•Business Data Related List Web Part

•Business Data Actions Web Part

•Business Data Item Builder Web Part

The Web Parts used to analyze business intelligence include:

•Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Web Part

•Excel Web Access Web Part

•WSRP Web Part

•IView Web Part (for SAP)

•Report Viewer Web Part (for SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services)

Additional Web Parts are used to connect Web Parts or to filter the data displayed in Web Parts.

For information about techniques for displaying business data in lists and Web Parts, see the following resources:

•Business data in sites, lists, and libraries (information worker)

•Work with business data in SharePoint lists (information worker)

•Web Parts and Web Part Pages (developer)

•Data Sources (developer)

•Data Views (developer)

•Web Parts (How Do I... in Windows SharePoint Services) (developer)

•Working with ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (developer)

•Creating a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part Using Visual Studio 2005 Extensions (developer)

•Creating Web Parts in Windows SharePoint Services (developer)

•Solutions and Web Part Packages (developer)

•Target audiences (Office SharePoint Server) (information worker)

•Plan business data Web Parts

•Business Data Web Parts (developer)

•Work with filter Web Parts (Office SharePoint Server) (information worker)

•Excel Web Access Web Part summary (information worker)

•Create and publish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (information worker)

•Resources for Interoperability with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

•Integrating Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SAP

•Smart Clients: Build A Windows Forms Control To Consume And Render

Create business data sites

Business data in lists and Web Parts is gathered together into sites that use a mix of different lists and Web Parts that often interact and share data. Some Web Parts display data in list form, whereas other Web Parts enable analysis of business intelligence or key performance indicators.

Types of sites that commonly use business data include:

•Profiles Each entity has a default View Profile action, with the target URL being a business data profile page. The profile page can be anything from a simple list of properties using the standard business data profile template, to a highly customized business data application.

•Dashboards The dashboard site template includes Excel Web Access Web Parts, and can be customized with additional Web Parts.

•Personalization sites These sites use a specialized filter Web Part that displays information based upon the identity of the current user. Personalization sites often include detailed business data that display information using this filter. Personalization sites are often linked from the My Site navigation bar.

•Other site templates, including the main portal site template, can be customized by adding one or more business data or business intelligence Web Parts.

For information about techniques for creating business data sites, see the following resources:

•Display business data on a SharePoint site (information worker)

•ASP.NET Web Pages (developer)

•ASP.NET Web Parts Pages (developer)

•ASP.NET Web Server Controls (developer)

•Plan Web pages

•Create a publishing page layout (developer)

•Customize a publishing page layout (developer)

•Pages in Office SharePoint Server 2007 (developer)

•Introduction to customizing pages by using Web Parts (Windows SharePoint Services) (information worker)

•Customizing pages by using Web Parts (Windows SharePoint Services) (information worker)

•Customizing pages by using Web Parts (Office SharePoint Server) (information worker)

•Creating and editing pages (Office SharePoint Server) (information worker)

•Share Excel 2007 worksheets and KPIs by using dashboards (information worker)

•Add a report to a dashboard (information worker)

•Connect data in Web Parts (information worker)

•Work with filter Web Parts (information worker)

•Excel Services: Connections and properties (information worker)

The Microsoft Learning Portal for SQL Server 2008 is Now Available

riyazj — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:34:00 GMT

The new SQL Server 2008 Learning Portal contains the latest MSL products including eBooks and e-Learnings, Instructor-lead Trainings and Certification Exams on SQL Server 2008. The site is branded with the same look and feel as the ‘Heros Happen Now’ Campaign to be better integrated with the on-going launch activities. We will continue to update the site as new products become available. So drive your customers and partners to the site to help get them ready for SQL Server 2008 today!

Get a head start on establishing your skills and credentials in SQL Server 2008 technologies.

Microsoft Learning offers a complete set of training resources and streamlined certification paths to help you stand out in your field.

Special Offers:

Check this section often for new special offers for training on Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Free e-book offer: Get free excerpts from Introducing SQL Server 2008 by Peter DeBetta.

Free e-learning:

Collection 6187: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (includes three free clinics)

Classroom training:

Course 6156: First Look: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Books from Microsoft Press

Written by industry experts, Microsoft Press books deliver the accurate, from-the-source information that you need to take your skills and knowledge to the next level.

•Free e-book offer and Microsoft Press newsletter

This e-book includes excerpts from an upcoming publication from Microsoft Press:

•Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 by Peter DeBetta (ISBN: 9780735625587)
In this initial installment of the e-book, learn about some of the major new features in SQL Server 2008, including security, administration, and performance.
After the book is published, the entire e-book will be available from this site, so come back and read more from expert Peter DeBetta.

Learn more about the free e-book offer, and sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection newsletter, a newsletter that provides news about upcoming and recent releases, special offers, and additional information from those who know our books best.

•Free e-book offer and Microsoft Press newsletter

Microsoft E-Learning

This Microsoft Official E-Learning clinic leverages a rich multimedia experience to introduce you to new and enhanced features in SQL Server 2008, including new data types and data management features.

•Collection 6187: What’s New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (includes three free clinics)

•Clinic 6188: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Enterprise Data Platform

•Clinic 6189: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Business Intelligence

•Clinic 6190: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for Database Development

Classroom training

Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions deliver Official Microsoft Learning Products both in classrooms and online, facilitated by expert Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs).

First-look courses and hands-on labs

The following 90-minute clinic and hands-on lab target specific SQL Server 2008 scenarios to help you prepare for Microsoft Certifications on SQL Server 2008.

•Course 6156: First Look: What's New in Microsoft SQL Server 2008

•Find additional Microsoft Learning resources

•Find additional classroom training by Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Training

riyazj — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:32:46 GMT

The fastest way to learn the basics of PerformancePoint Server 2007 is through these self-directed learning courses, which have been designed to give 5 a quick start on building your performance management solution:

Building a planning budgeting or forecasting application

Module 1: Business integration
video | workbook
Module 2: Architecting a PerformancePoint Server2007 planning application
video | workbook
Module 3: Fundamentals of a planning application
video | workbook
Module 4: Building business models and data dimensions
video | workbook
Module 5: Data Loading
video | workbook
Module 6: Managing roles and security in a planning application
video | workbook
Module 7: Fundamentals of the Excel add-in for PerformancePoint Server 2007
video | workbook
Module 8: Embedding rules and calculations into a planning application
video | workbook
Module 9: Planning process management and workflows
video | workbook

Building a scorecard, dashboard, or analysis application

Module 10: Fundamentals of monitoring and analyzing data with PerformancePoint Server 2007
video | workbook
Module 11: Fundamentals of dashboarding, scorecarding and analytics
video | workbook
Module 12: PerformancePoint Server 2007 elements for monitoring and analysis
video | workbook
Module 13: Building dashboards with PerformancePoint Server 2007
video | workbook
Module 14: Managing security in dashboards, scorecards and analytic
video | workbook

Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2005

riyazj — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:46:00 GMT

Your business intelligence (BI) applications need to integrate seamlessly into your overall application infrastructure to deliver real competitive advantage. Through interactive presentations, end-to-end scenario demonstrations, and self-paced labs, this online series provides you with the knowledge you need to develop and implement easy-to-manage, adaptive BI application architecture.

Webcasts

Watch these webcasts for real code, demonstrations, and in-depth question-and-answer sessions and learn how your organization can benefit from SQL Server 2005.

Virtual Labs

Try out Microsoft BI solutions during a virtual lab. It's simple, with no complex setup or installation is required. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module, and you can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks anytime.

Podcasts

Stream or download these audio podcasts on to your favorite podcast software or mobile device. These podcasts are free and do not require registration—just click, listen, and learn about BI with SQL Server 2005.

Business Intelligence Screecast

riyazj — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:19:00 GMT

Channel 9 has posted a lot of Business Intelligence screencasts. This screencast is the first in a series BI Developer screencasts recorded as part of a workshop built on SQL Server 2005 that have been delivered around the globe by Microsoft and Microsoft Partners. This training event takes the student through the Microsoft BI Platform giving a BI Developer the introduction and basic comfort needed to tackle a BI project using Microsoft technology.

#00: Microsoft BI Platform Integration

#01a: Introduction to Microsoft BI

This screencast provides an overview of Business Intelligence including basic database design concepts, ETL, reporting and analytics.

#01b: Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Tools and Sample Databases

This screencast introduces the tools within the Microsoft Business Intelligence platform as well as a look at the Adventure Works OLTP and OLAP databases.

#02a: Developing a Query-Driven E-mail Delivery System

This screencast shows how to use SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Microsoft's ETL tool, to send conditional email alerts during a load.

#03a: Loading and Integrating Data from Multiple Sources

This screencast introduces the concept of Data Flow within SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) including the use of Merge Join and Derived columns.

#04a: Identifying and Importing New Customers by Using Fuzzy Lookup

This screencast introduces the concept of fuzzy lookup and highlights SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) support within a Data Flow for performing these tasks.

#04b: Implementing Slowly Changing Dimensions in the Data Flow

This screencast covers one of the most common scenarios when building a data warehouse. It introduces the concept of Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD) and how to solve that challenge with SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).

#04c: Advanced Package Design

This screencast quickly covers some of the more advanced concepts such as Event Handlers, Logging and Package Configurations using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).

#05a: Designing a Basic Report

This screencast covers the basics of using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) including configuration of data sources and building basic reports. A few small tip, tricks and best practices are also covered.

#05b: Adding Interactivity to a Report

This screencast shows the viewer how to add parameters and drill through to reports developed using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).

#06a: Developing a Report Model and Designing a Report Builder Report

This screencast cover building a Report Model in Business Intelligence Development Studio and show how to connect a report using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).

#07a: Deploying and Accessing Reports

This screencast shows how to embed and deploy SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) reports into your applications.

#09a: Designing Dimensions

This screencast covers building dimensions on a cube built using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

#09b: Advanced Dimension Design

This screencast covers optimization of the dimensions built in the previous screencast using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

#09c: Using the Cube Wizard

This screencast covers the use of the Cube Wizard including some tips and tricks in SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

#09d: Introducing Cube Calculations

His screencast adds to the three previous screencasts by adding calculations to an SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) cube.

#10a: Designing Reports on the UDM

This screencast covers the use of building a SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) report on a SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) cube (Unified Data Model).

#10b: Exploring Analysis Features of Microsoft Excel 2007

This screencast covers the use of Excel as a tool for viewing data within a cube built with SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

#11a: More Analysis with Microsoft Excel 2007

This screencast covers using Excel as a powerful tool drill deeper into your information.

#12a: Introducing Data Mining

This screencast covers general Data Mining techniques using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS).

#12b: Introducing the Table Analysis Tool for Excel 2007

This screencast cover the use of Data Mining Add-Ins for Office using SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) as the data mining engine on table data within Excel.

#14a: Building a Performance Point Scorecard

This screencast covers building and publishing scorecards with PerformancePoint.

Troubleshooting Integration with SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft SharePoint Technologies

riyazj — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:18:00 GMT

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 introduces tight integration between Reporting Services and Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies to enable a single user environment with which to manage and execute reports. This white paper shows how to administer the integration between Reporting Services and SharePoint Products and Technologies and provides troubleshooting tips in the event that problems arise.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb969101.aspx

SQL Server 2005 Integration with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies

riyazj — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 05:14:00 GMT

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 introduced tight integration between SQL Server Reporting Services and Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies to provide a single-user environment with which to manage and execute reports. This paper shows how to configure the integration of Reporting Services and SharePoint Products and Technologies. It also shows how to manage reports and publish them to a SharePoint site.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb969100.aspx

The Riyaz Blog

PerformancePoint training resources

Data Sheets

Licensing

PerformancePoint 2007 Demos

Introduction to Microsoft Business Intelligence

Get an idea of the broad capabilities of Microsoft Business Intelligence and how it can help you run your business more effectively.

Why Is Business Intelligence Important?

Watch this informative discussion with Bill Baker, PerformancePoint Server 2007 general manager, on the value of the complete Microsoft Business Intelligence and performance management offering.

Partner Training - Business Intelligence

SQL Server 2008 Webcasts

SQL Server 2008 - Learning

SQL Server 2008 - Learning

Jason Morales' Microsoft BI Update v.15 - December

Monthly Microsoft BI newsletter by Jason Morales

Hot Topics

Functionality

Integration

Economics

Upcoming Events

IT Executive Roadmap Tour

Performance Management Analytics – CFO Magazine Conference

Upcoming Webcasts

PerformancePoint Server Demo

SQL Server Spatial Data: Delivering Locations Intelligence

Unlock the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SQL Server

Driving Business Performance with Microsoft Business Intelligence

Training

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Training Sites

Partner Program – webcasts

Resources

Microsoft BI

PerformancePoint Server 2007

ProClarity

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2008

Analysis Services

SharePoint Server 2007

Data Mining

Dynamics

Microsoft & BI Blogs

Microsoft BI Partners

OLAP Report - summaries

Analyst Reports

News Links & Press Releases

Business intelligence roadmap

Before you begin

Connect to business data by using data connection libraries

Add a trusted file location

Configure the Single Sign-On service

Add a trusted data provider

Add a trusted data connection library

Connect to data in line-of-business applications

Configure security for the Business Data Catalog

Create application definitions

Import application definitions

Design business data actions

Display business data in lists and Web Parts

Create business data sites

The Microsoft Learning Portal for SQL Server 2008 is Now Available

Books from Microsoft Press

Microsoft E-Learning

Classroom training

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Training

Building a planning budgeting or forecasting application

Building a scorecard, dashboard, or analysis application

Business Intelligence with SQL Server 2005

Business Intelligence Screecast

Troubleshooting Integration with SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft SharePoint Technologies

SQL Server 2005 Integration with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies