It’s often the unseen that has the most impact on what we do – it’s also the intangible that we play scant attention to that can make the biggest differences to the way we work. Tony Crowhurst, senior FSN writer takes an advance look at the PowerPivot – part of Microsoft’s soon to be released SQLServer 2008 R2.
This is no more so in the area of information - the arena of data and databases. The leap from just being able to use a computer to calculate an answer to then store masses of information digitally has been huge; and with the advent of the relational database we finally had the ability to interrogate that data effectively.
Without these advances, organisations would struggle to scale and would be unable to cope with the pressures burdening modern organisations.
Consider companies such as Amazon and eBay who process tens millions of financial transactions each day as millions of customers make purchases. At the same time, thousands of suppliers and partners need to be paid while inventory moves in and out of warehouses, and as taxes are collected in hundreds of locations worldwide.
Databases are the backbone to their success yet we still see them simply as information stores in fact that are much more important than that now.
Technology is coming together faster and faster we can do more for less but yet we still face the challenges of making sense of what we need to know. More than ever we need to understand what new technology can do for us we need to work better with our IT teams to understand their constraints and to educate them as to our needs.
In May Microsoft launches its latest database product – Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 in company parlance and its worthwhile looking at what there is to offer. The feature list is exhaustive although it’s the BI capabilities that stand out for those of us outside of IT.
According to David Hobbs-Mallyon, Microsoft’s UK SQL Server Product Manager, SQL Server R2 “will enable end users to generate richer reports and perform advanced ad hoc analysis of spreadsheets, databases as well as information stored in other data sources around the business.”
The depth of functionality is impressive but it is in R2’s BI capabilities that include PowerPivot, SharePoint Dashboards and the ability to use geospatial visualisation to produce mapping and routing information that should resonate.
Let’s look at two specific features - PowerPivot and the capabilities around BI and SharePoint.
PowerPivot (www.powerpivot.com) is a free add-in developed by Microsoft. It is available now with Office 2010 so in its native form it does not even require you to have a SQL Server. PowerPivot is designed to do anything from an Access to Oracle DB to another spreadsheet. PowerPivot uses “in memory analytics” – you don’t create a separate DB, rather your information is gathered and generated on request. It allows you to intuitively create joins between different tables and databases for example, linking a customer ID in a CRM DB with the same customer ID field in your billing system. Once created those links are saved and you can then publish the results. It you’re a competent Excel user who understands pivot tables then you will find PowerPivot a doddle and it won’t be long before Microsoft’s partners start creating vertical solutions that provide tailored results.
OK so connecting data together in a spreadsheet like environment is not new - PowerPivot is by no means the only product on the market that does this type of thing and vendors such as Qlikview (www.qlikview.com) have a very successful business delivering solutions in this market sector. What makes it distinctive is (unsurprisingly) the piece that you have to pay for – the SharePoint integration...this truly validates the portal proposition.
David Hobbs-Mallyon goes on to say that “R2 will make it easier to securely share information with colleagues ensuring a single version of truth as well as also simplifying IT governance.”
In essence you can interrogate masses of data without fear of your Excel spreadsheets crashing, publish the results SharePoint and sit back in the knowledge that only authorised users can see the outcome. Once published, authorised users can refresh reports at will.
That’s proper self service BI.
PerformancePoint (Microsoft’s CPM product) has been included in SharePoint for a while. Including a user friendly BI tool means that you end up with a very credible platform that can bridge the gap between organisational information and the plethora of unstructured data that we have to deal with. That’s more bang for your bucks than you get from a lot of vendors in the same space.
As Matt Quinn from Altius Consulting (www.altiusconsulting.com ) says... “BI is all about turning data into meaningful information. Social networking is about delivering and sharing information with people you trust. With the two coming together as ‘BI 2.0’ we’re seeing corporate data turned into information and shared throughout the organisation (and with partner organisations) quickly and intuitively – drastically enhancing its value.”
Another unforeseen positive outcome that comes out of providing PowerPivot for free is how it can help organisations map out the architecture of their data. Simply using PowerPivot to create all the relationships can give you a view of where your data is and you can then be used to can start working on their BI roadmap. All without having to spend any money on software!
So what should you next move be? I’d suggest installing Microsoft Excel 2010 (still in beta) – you can run it with previous versions of Excel and then install the PowerPivot client. Use the tutorials to create some basis reports. That will cost you nothing and at the very least you have a great set of reports.
The next step is more time consuming and should be part of an overall architecture plan – you can install evaluation versions of R2 and SharePoint 2010 Beta for free and the demo data base will give you a reasonable grasp of the capabilities of the product. It’s probably worthwhile talking to your IT team first although hopefully they are already looking at it anyway.
