Just in time for troubleshooting issues with Scoping & PerformancePoint scripts...
SQL Server Best Practices Article: Identifying and Resolving MDX Query Performance Bottlenecks in SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services
Brief Description
This article provides the information about the available MDX query troubleshooting tools and demonstrates how to use the most common of these tools to identify and resolve MDX query performance bottlenecks with individual MDX queries
My favourites are Amaztype
- there are some great ones here...
The Business Intelligence "mashup" that is PerformancePoint will require end-to-end understanding of many of the BI tools that Microsoft provides, as Gert discusses...
The technical knowledge needed is vast - the components involved beside PerformancePoint Server are SQL Server along with its Analysis Services and Integration Services components, Excel and SharePoint. And so many Microsoft partners who have implemented infrastructure solutions or data-warehouses with a technical approach up to now, have started to embark on the PerformancePoint journey ramping up their technical skills.
Gert Fahrnberger ’s BI log » Blog Archive » Who will sell and implement PerformancePoint Server?
I have used PerformancePoint's Monitoring and Analytics component since it was the Business Scorecard Accelerator add-in. I'm looking forward to implementing the newest version of this component, to be released September 18th with the full suite. It should offer a powerful solution for creating dashboards and scorecards with Analysis Services.
The link below offers a walkthrough of various tasks within PerformancePoint.
This is an unofficial self-reported partner directory based on a partner listing that was started during the Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005 beta program in summer 2005.
Get the next version - PerformancePoint on Connect
PerformancePoint Server 2007 now available
Previews of the scorecarding functionality in PerformancePoint Server 2007 are now available through the Business Scorecard Manager 2005 Customer and Partner Advisory Group program (CPAG). Originally designed for participants of the previous Business Scorecard Manager TAP program, this NDA-only community is now open to all Microsoft customers and partners interested in future updates on evaluating pre-released scorecarding functionality in PerformancePoint Server 2007.
1) Use you Passport account to log in to http://connect.microsoft.com and click on "Invitations" on the left-side menu.
2) Use invitation ID: CPAG-BX8V-XRJ3
Source: partners
Not related to PerformancePoint, however developers using Visual Studio and XP may appreciate some of these tweaks to speed up performance.
Whenever XP reads a file, it stamps the file with the date and time of the access. This feature has its place but is not required for normal use unless you rely on the date of last access for backup purposes, which is a rare requirement for most backups. Putting a timestamp a file that has just been read means that a write access has to be made to disk, so every time a read is executed, a corresponding write is also executed.
At the command prompt, enter the following then reboot;
FSUTIL behavior set disablelastaccess 1
Those of us who read and write English need to take note of the American spelling of the BEHAVIOR parameter.
To turn timestamps back on, repeat the command but replace the 1 with 0.
For the "C" audience reading this blog, (CFO, CEO, CIO, CTO), the management team and BI architects, there is a one day event coming up on Thursday September 20, 2007 in New York City.
Free lunch in New York... why not?
It's a New Day for BI!
Effective performance management and financial planning can help you drive better performance for your business. Come learn how companies like yours, and Microsoft itself, are benefiting from an integrated monitoring, analysis and financial planning application.
During this one-day, free event you'll hear how Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 helps make your business better in four key ways:
What You Will Get
It's a New Day for BI!
Q&A: Coinciding with the first community technology preview of Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, General Manager Bill Baker discusses the evolution of Microsoft's business intelligence solution into performance management.
Some points from the content, which is from last December but still relevant:
- Proclarity purchase was sales & marketing driven in addition to a technology play.
- Partners will drive vertical integration.
- Designed for high end market.
I see a lot of potential to extend this initial version of PerformancePoint and build "add-on's" that could be incorporated into the next version.
A couple of the add-ons could revolve around:
- Maintenance tasks
- ETL integration
- Log consolidation & reporting
- Extensions to Excel Add-In
- Word add-in for forecasting
- Web add-in for forecasting
- Data Mining
- Powerpoint add-ins
- Silverlight add-ins
Chris has some of the same concerns that I have with the v1 product - clear division of tasks between business and technical users, ability to reuse dimensions from other systems, limitations to the v1 product vs. competitors, poor UI design, general bugginess & lack of documentation around integration points.
In general though, the tools available within the PerformancePoint suite should offer some serious partner integration opportunities.
And if anyone can remember Plato (Olap '97) it can only get better from here...
I don't want to dwell on the negatives too much anyway, which I know I'm inclined to do, because as I say my overall impression was favourable and we're still about six months from RTM. Before going on the training I thought that the bpm side of PerformancePoint would be something I might steer clear of in my day-to-day work, but now I feel enthused to go out there and do something with it. There's a healthy amount of MDX used in its calculations and reporting so that has to represent a business opportunity for me!
Nick Barclay is co-author of the book Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005. This is his blog.
A short time ago he called again to ask if I would be interested in working with him on a more full-time basis. Once more I accepted. This afternoon I completed my employment with SDM and on my return from 3 weeks of badly needed vacation will begin work as principal consultant at Adrian Downes' company B(iQ). I'm looking forward to working with both Adrian and his business partner Con on a number of exciting projects we have planned. Naturally I'll keep this blog updated with details on some of the more interesting ones ;)
PWC has released a whitepaper around budgeting and forecasting, with some interesting metrics.
Apparently 30% of respondents take > 4 months to work through the budget cycle. 70% use spreadsheets for forecasting. 27% build variance reports (budget to actual) in spreadsheets.
It is no longer sufficient to just measure past performance. Budgeting and forecasting has become a critical competency for organizations to effectively plan, manage, and execute on strategy. Finance organizations face new challenges: building financial plans with strong links to strategy initiatives and fostering new collaboration between finance management and business operations.
Adrian Downes has a (currently) 7 step process to PerformancePoint Planning and some useful links.
On PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning Features (Part 1)
Part 1 - Setting the Stage
This post is the first in an on-going series dedicated to the Planning feature set ('PPS Plan') of Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007-- while this one sets the stage, future posts will provide a closer look at specific tools and components.
We recently installed CTP4 Planning and are testing the version now.
One tidbit - if the matrix rerenders every time data entry is performed in Excel - Click on options and turn off Auto Recalculate, or turn off the Auto Recalculate icon on the ribbon.
I noticed the Proclarity Community forums are being taken offline and it is now recommended to use the Analysis Services 2005 forums for Proclarity questions. Looks like the migration path and new installs will be focused on Performance Point 2007.
This will be the last CTP release before the product launches.
More information on launch later this week. I know a couple of you have been awaiting this. I've had some calls this week saying, "you said CTP4 was going to be available this week - I need to know exactly when".
Well it's arrived.
With all the features of PerformancePoint and the different toolsets bundled within, here's one that caught my eye for automating xlsX & pptX document creation.
Summary: Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 has the ability to generate Excel and PowerPoint documents without the presence of Microsoft Office.
