There's a working example of PerformancePoint 2007 with a SQL Health Dashboard at the link below.
SQL Server Database Activity and Health
and another with Excel services
http://richardlees.com.au/sites/Demonstrations/Pages/ExcelServices.aspx
and an Internet Analytics dashboard
Lots of useful demos on this site.
One of the key features missing from a relational data tool such as SQL Server is built-in Time Intelligence. SQL Analysis Services and PerformancePoint Server are 2 tools where time intelligence and analysis of historical data are simplified and available out-of-the-box.
Time Intelligence filters within PerformancePoint provide users with a way of specifying dates using everyday terms like Today, Yesterday, Last 6 months etc rather than having to select from a calendar control or pick different measures/metrics.
At its simplest, the PerformancePoint implementation of time intelligence filters are really just MDX generators, simplifying MDX for the end-user.
David's blog recaps this nicely.
FRxBuzz debates Crystal vs. FRx for Financial Reporting.
Why are there two reportwriters (usually Crystal and FRx in the midmarket) when you're implementing a new ERP? Why not just use Crystal to create the financial reports? Crystal is a database reportwriter. The database that contains the accounting transactions can have a couple hundred tables (or more). To create financial reports in Crystal, you would have to know lots of techie things like which tables contain the data you need (and tables can have very strange names!), which field to use to link those tables, how to structure the join that links the tables, the field names for the data you need, and how the application flags items in the database like whether a transaction is posted, how to separate budget from actual, how to exclude void transactions, and a whole host of other things absolutely critical to accuracy.
How do you do that when you’re an accountant without extensive training on this one database? Answer: you don’t. You use FRx instead.
FRxBUZZ :: The Techie Version of Life's Too Short To Do Balance Sheets in Crystal
I still can't track down the elusive Management Reporter download.
If you’re entertaining the idea of migrating from FRx to Management Reporter, here’s a laundry list of functionality, both what’s new and what’s missing.
Dig deeper into the PerformancePoint cubes with this set of utilities.
ToolBox
SQL Server Analysis Services Performance Monitoring and Visualization Methodology
This methodology collects and processes SQL Server Analysis Services trace files by using SQL Server Integration Services and SQL Server stored procedures. It then utilizes SQL Server Reporting Services reports to visualize performance issues related to MDX queries and processing jobs. This methodology includes components to work with both SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 CTP6.
SQL Server Analysis Services Performance Monitoring and Visualization Methodology - ToolBox
Podcast around PerformancePoint and Business Intelligence with National Money Mart, T4G, and Microsoft.
Business is getting more and more competitive and many organizations are looking to be able to get an edge by collecting data and analyzing it to make better business decisions. One company may want look at weather patterns to better stock their stores while another may need to analyze information to figure out how the introduction of a new product may cannibalize the sales of other products.
The use of business intelligence is not just for large conglomerates. The technology is available so that smaller and mid-sized companies can also make use of data to grow their businesses intelligently. But the implementation of a business intelligence system is not without its challenges.
Join me as I chat with Ed Raffin from National Money Mart, Paul Barter from T4G and Ryan Dochuk from Microsoft Canada and we discuss common pitfalls of using business intelligence for performance management and how National Money Mart is avoiding them and using business intelligence for its planning department.
13 MB of PerformancePoint goodness for Management Reporter demos...
PerformancePoint 2007 Data Integration Toolkit
Brief Description
The Data Integration Toolkit is a set of software, documentation, and samples designed to enable partners and customers to expose data from financial source systems in a standardized, contextual format for use in reporting, planning, monitoring and analytics scenarios.
Download details: PerformancePoint 2007 Data Integration Toolkit
The Dashboards by Example blog has some good, well, examples...
Related Executive Dashboard Posts:
- Red Green Yellow Indicator Icons Used at Google...
- Automotive Maintenance Dashboard - a real-world, physical dashboard used by auto mechanics to inspect your car...
- Executive dashboard with big indicator icons for at-a-glance status of projects...
- Xcelsius Dashboard Status Indicators...
- Banking Performance Dashboard - Scorecard on financial performance, customer value, internal processes, growth...
- Manufacturing Shop Floor Dashboard Screenshot - status, metrics of a bottling line...
- Information Technology Management Scorecard - measuring effectiveness in six areas...
- Red Light - Green Light - 123 - Dashboard Indicator Icons, a graphic resource for enterprise dashboards from The Dashboard Spy...
Web integration is the obvious next step for analyzing customers, competitors, and providing up-to-the-minute information on BI data.
Nick has a solution... just make sure you're not searching on credit card numbers...
Creating Dynamic Web Page Reports
As a follow up to my post on debugging filter links with web page reports I thought it would be worthwhile to put together a quick example to illustrate just what an unsung hero the web page report type is. Just think of the web page report as the catch-all report type. Basically, if you can't do it with one of the many pre-baked M&A report types then the web page report is what you want.
Mauro talks about a new book worth looking at on the various Office Server products.
There is a new techie book on the market that I had the pleasure of contributing on. It is the "Administrator's Guide to Microsoft Office 2007 Servers". I wrote some of the PerformancePoint content (I love that product!). I liked the concept behind this book; an administrative guide to installing and configuring all the major Microsoft server products. It's great bookshelf material for anyone responsible for managing a Microsoft-centric environment.
Jeff's taken this one
stepLEAP further - This is your PerformancePoint Bible:Help, How To, Guides, Manuals, & Forums
Planning Help: How do I ...
- Roadmap: How do I write a business rule?
- How do I export data with an outbound rule?
- How do I use an association to move data between models?
- PeformancePoint Planning Server capabilities?
- See more Planning "How do I" topics
Monitoring Help: How do I ...
- Link scorecard KPI's to analytic reports
- Keyboard shortcuts in Dashboard Designer
- Create a strategy map
- Create a Web page report
- Filters in Dashboard Designer
- See more Monitoring "How do I" topics
Guides and Manuals
- PerformancePoint Server 2007 Deployment Guide
- PerformancePoint Server 2007 Operations Guide
- PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning and Architecture Guide
- PerformancePoint Planning Business Rules Development Guide
- PerformancePoint Monitoring SDK Reference Manual
User Forums on TechNet
This is a GREAT resource for both customers and partners.
Lots of templates and iconsets for your dashboarding solutions from Dashboard Spy.
Dashboard Templates
The most valuable thing that The Dashboard Spy website can give you (other than the guided tour through hundreds of dashboards, that is!) is the head start on your dashboard project via these templates. With these dashboard templates, you can literally save weeks or months on your project. Don't believe me? Download one today and see why.
