Analysis
The analysis functionality of PerformancePoint Server
is sometimes unofficially referred to as “analysis lite”
because the amount of true analytics that made it into
the first release is limited compared to Microsoft’s original
plan to incorporate ProClarity products, which it acquired
in 2006. At the time of the acquisition, ProClarity offered
the leading third-party analytics application for accessing
Analysis Services cubes.
The analysis functionality that did make it into PerformancePoint
Server centers around reports that can
be created in the Dashboard Designer. The two primary
reports are the Analytic Grid and the Analytic Chart.
Both are thin-client reports that let users view data and
click to drill down to lower levels of detail. For grids, there
are standard plus and minus signs to expand or collapse
regions, while the chart allows users to click bars or pie
slices to see additional data. These reports contain limited
analytics features but meet the needs of most users. More
powerful and flexible reports exist, but some of these
reports rely on the Office Web Components, which require
both a client installation and a client license.
To fill the current gap in the analysis side of the
product, a license of PerformancePoint Server will include
a license of ProClarity. ProClarity has a Windows client
version and a Web server version, both with nearly identical
capabilities that let analysts and power users examine,
pivot, drill into, and display data. The tools are designed
to support all manner of data analysis, and users can add
and remove elements as necessary to work with the data.
PerformancePoint Server offers a report type that shows a
ProClarity report, called a view, and ProClarity views can
be added to a dashboard, which Figure 2 shows.
Planning
The planning module is designed to support the frequently
onerous process of planning, budgeting, and forecasting.
The process starts when models are created that specify
how the business or its different divisions need to create
their budgets or forecasts. Users then can create budgets
or forecasts for their area by using a familiar tool, Excel.
These plans are then rolled up to the corporate level,
allowing more people to create more detailed plans and
still conform to the overall business strategy. In Figure
3 you can see an example of how users interact with the
planning module by using Excel.
Budgets and plans can go through the organization’s
specified workflow process via a service within the planning
module that runs on a central server. Task assignments, submissions,
notifications, and approvals are handled through
email, SharePoint, and Excel. From a security standpoint,
users have access only to the data for which they have permissions.
All submissions and changes are tracked in audit
logs to comply with stringent financial regulations.
One of the features of the planning module is that
the plan data is stored in Analysis Services cubes. This
data can then be used as the target value in the KPIs in
the monitoring module of PerformancePoint Server. The
planning piece feeds back into the business monitoring
module, helping tie together the vision of a single tool that
supports the entire process of monitoring, analyzing, and
planning a business. While the data can flow back into the
monitoring module as the target for KPIs, and most users
of the planning module will use Excel, the actual models
are created with a separate tool, called the Planning Business
Modeler. Whether the Planning Business Modeler
and the Dashboard Designer will ever be merged remains
to be seen.
A Tool with Value
PerformancePoint Server can require multiple installations
and uses different tools depending on what is being
created. Despite the imperfect integration of the parts in
this first version, the overall vision is sound and the tool
delivers tremendous business value.
End of Article
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