PerformancePoint Server 2007

“So long and thanks for all the fish…”

2009-04-16T23:42:00.001-07:00

As most of you hopefully know by now, the PerformancePoint Planning component has been discontinued by Microsoft in January 2009. Secondly the the PerformancePoint Server suite functionality will become part of Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition.

I have spent the last two years focusing on PerformancePoint planning deployments for three mid-sized companies. It is unfortunate the Planning has been discontinued but Financial Planning project are more about defining the customer budgeting and planning process than about the technology used to implement the solution. Secondly given the level of difficulty it took to implement a successful PerformancePoint Planning project and the breadth of knowledge required to do so (PEL, MDX, Store Procedures, Dimensional modeling etc.) , the learning curve for a new product should be fairly short.

The key challenge is finding a product that can provide a complete solution which allows the business users to create models or cubes and build and update dimensions. Secondly a good front end is required for input the budget whether it is an Excel or Web interface or a combination of both.

In most cases Analysis Services or Essbase can be used as the backend for these types of products and it Integration Services can still be used for the Data Integration. However there will be very few products on the Market that will be able to provide and end to end solution using only one vendor which is what PerfomancePoint could of provided in the long term.

Microsoft was on the right track with their product offering. SQL Server 2005 provided the data store, data integration and reporting for the Performance Management applications. While Management Reporter allowed you to easily report against a PerformancePoint Planning cube for internal and external reporting. It will be challenging to find a solution similar to this again in the market place with the low cost of ownership that these products provided.

I am still currently working on one planning project If you have any questions on how to do something in PerformancePoint Planning feel free to leave a comment on the site. I will probably continue to post items on the site until the end of 2009.

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint,budgeting,planning,microsoft

PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP2 Released!

2008-12-10T22:04:00.001-08:00

PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP2 was released on December 8. Check out SP2 by viewing the post below from Microsoft's Tech Net Forum for PerformancePoint Planning:

PerformancePoint Planning SP2

Make sure you read through the PerformancePoint Server Planning Readme file located at the bottom of the TechNet Post. Looks like the TechNet forum has a new look and feel as of December 10.

Troy

Technorati tags: microsoft, performancepoint, planning

Update the CURRENTPERIOD for a Model

2008-12-04T14:43:00.001-08:00

Every PerformancePoint Model has a CURRENTPERIOD property. So why set the CURRENTPERIOD property? You don't have to set this property but here is some basic functionality that it can provide:

Dynamically update the data or date range for a Form or a Report
Set the date range for Cycle
Use it as a variable in a PerformancePoint Rule

Go to the model that you want to set the CURRENTPERIOD for and then check out the model. In this example we are going to set the CURRENTPERIOD for an Exchange Rate model so that we can build a PerformancePoint form with a dynamic date range:

Select Schedule Current Period Updates... from the workspace action pane:

The CURRENTPERIOD is presently set December FY 2009 but we want it to be July FY 2009 which is the first period of the budget fiscal year in our PerformancePoint Application. First click Remove Last to remove the existing CURRENTPERIOD . Now click on the ellipsis to set the CURRENTPERIOD. Select the correct date and press OK.

Now select the single chevron (>) to copy the CURRENTPERIOD value to the Update Schedule section:

You can actually schedule multiple CURRENTPERIOD values which are updated based on the update time. In this case we are only going to set one CURRENTPERIOD. Click OK and then save the model. Now we can use the CURRENTPERIOD value. In order to update the of the CURRENTPERIOD in the form I am building, I need to Refresh System data as shown below:

Now I can set a dynamic date range for the Time Dimension:

Select Add Dynamic Range... . In this case I am going to set the Start of Range to 0 and the End of Range to 11 (0 to 11 represents 12 periods). Next Click OK and then OK again. The form will now dynamically display the Time members based on the CURRENTPERIOD. Refresh the form to update the time members

Here is form that I created suing the CURRENTPERIOD. Notice that the first time member is July FY 2009 which is equal to the CURRENTPERIOD and that the last member is June FY 2009 which equals CURRENTPERID + 11.

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint, sqlserver, analysis, microsoft, planning

ProClarity Analytics Platform SP2 - Download

2008-12-03T22:39:00.001-08:00

You can now download Service Pack 2 (SP2) cumulative update for the ProClarity Analytics Server (PAS) and the ProClarity Professional Desktop. The key feature of SP2 is that ProClarity now support Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008. ProClarity Analytics Platform is now called PerformancePoint Analytics and is part of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 stack. Download the Service packs from Microsoft:

ProClarity Analytics Server SP2 - Download

ProClarity Professional Desktop SP2 - Download

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint, sqlserver, analysis, microsoft

Installing PerformancePoint Planning SP1

2008-06-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well I successfully updated our development server with SP1. Our dev environment is a distributed environment with Analysis Services on one server and PerformancePoint and the relational databases on another. Before installing Service Pack 1 you should review the following documentation on TechNet:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514369(TechNet.10).aspx

Here are the steps as outlined on the TechNet site that I went through to install SP1:

Shutdown all the planning services

The first thing I did was shutdown all the PerformancePoint Services. This includes the following two services:

Planning Process Service
World Wide Web Publishing Service (IIS)

Backup databases

Once the services have been stopped the following databases need to be backed up:

PPSPlanningService
PPSPlanningSystem
Application Databases

Run SP1 update for the planning server components

Now you can install SP1 for the planning server:

PPLSrv.msi

This step is very straightforward. Just double click on the file and follow the wizard. The next step is the most important and is probably worth reviewing.

Run the PerformancePoint Configuration Manager

When you run the configuration manager a couple things to note is that when you get to the add/remove service step (#4) you want to select Upgrade Databases. Secondly when you get to the Upgrade Databases screen (#5) you need to check the option that says Upgrade Application Databases. You can also specify the location of the Application Database Upgrade log file which is useful if the upgrade fails. Below are the screen shots for most of the key steps:


1. Open the Configuration Manager	2. Click Next

3. Verify Components	4. Upgrade databases

5. Check upgrade databases	6. Validate upgrade

7. Final confirmation	8. Install status

After you install SP1 you will need to restart the server. Once the server has been restarted make sure all the necessary services are running:

Planning Process Service
World Wide Web Publishing Service (IIS)

You may also need to ensure that the SQL Server Relational Service and the Analysis Server Service are running depending on your server configuration (Startup setting for the service could be set to manual). Once you have verified that all the services are running make you will need to access the Planning Administration Console (http://servername:46788/). Navigate to the PerformancePoint Applications. The applications should all be set to Offline. You can now set the application to Online:

Run SP1 for all client computers

Although installing SP1 if very simple for the client computers it is important that you upgrade these components (Business Modeler and the Excel Add-in) before connecting to the PerformancePoint Server. After the components have been successfully installed you will need to reboot the client machine. Here is a list of the install files for the client:

PBMCli.msp (Business Modeler )
PPLXCli.msp (Excel Add-in)

Taking it for a test drive

Well once you have installed SP1 its a good idea to take it for a little test drive. I thought a good test would be to deploy the Alpine Ski House application. Sure enough I deployed the site and everything worked okay. I also created a quick form based on the Alpine Ski House application and there does seem to be a significant increase in performance. One cool thing to note is that you can now apply conditional formatting for numbers and the formatting will remain after you refresh the worksheet or workbook. This should decrease the need for macros to format your reports.

Although I was able to install SP1 in an evening on our test servers it will definitely require a lot more time and planning for production environments.

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint, performance point, microsoft, analysis services, sql server 2005, planning, budgeting

PerformancePoint 2007 Service Pack 1 - Released!

2008-06-04T20:07:00.001-07:00

PeformancePoint Service Pack 1 is now available from Microsoft. Check out this post:

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3444589&SiteID=17

The most significant change for Service Pack 1 will be the increase in performance when opening/closing and refreshing forms and reports in the PerformancePoint Excel Add-in. I'll be installing the service pack on our test server over the next couple of weeks. It is important to note that the service pack cannot be applied to pre-leases of PerformancePoint (e.g. CTP 4). You must upgrade from the pre-release version to RTM fist before applying the update:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514369(TechNet.10).aspx

Troy

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New Data Migration Tool for Planning!

2008-06-02T07:44:00.001-07:00

On May 30, 2008 Microsoft released a data migration tool for PerformancePoint Planning (free download). Although it was possible to migrate a Planning application using PPSCMD, it was only possible to migrate the application objects (dimensions, models, security etc.). The fact and reference data had to be migrated manually. For example once you have set up your test or dev environment you may want to migrate the fact and reference data to the production server. Below is a link to the download and the documentation.

I am not sure what level of preparation is required with the new tool. Hopefully it is as simple as taking a backup of the StagingDb from the Source Application and restoring the database in the Destination environment. Once the database is restored in the new environment you can register it with the new application. At this point the tool can take care of the migration. Make sure you review the Migrating Planning Data from a Test Environment on the Tech Net site before trying out the tool.

I should get an opportunity in the next couple of months on my current project to try the tool out.

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint, performance point, microsoft, sql server 2005, planning, budgeting, business intelligence

Enabling NativeSQL/NativeMDX Rules

2008-06-01T19:23:00.001-07:00

In order to enable Native SQL and Native MDX rules you must perform the following two steps:

Enable Native SQL/MDX Rules in the Administration Console
Have a DBA (Database Administrator) activate the rule in the back end

The above steps cannot be performed by a user who only has Business Modeler rights. In order to perform these steps the user will require Global Administrator (GA) rights.

Enable Native SQL/MDX Rules in the Administration Console

The first step can be performed when creating a new PerformancePoint Application or after the Application has been created. It is quite possible that Native SQL/MDX rules have not been enabled for the Application your are using because the default setting is set to false. To enable these rule types the (GA) needs to access the Planning Administration Console and select the appropriate planning application. In our case I will select Alpine Ski House:

Now select Edit to edit the application settings:

The Alpine Ski House Application is currently not configured to use Native SQL/MDX rules. Simple select the check box and then click OK.

At this point the GA can now inform the Business Modeler that they can use native SQL/MDX rules.

Activating the Rule in the Database

To demonstrate how to do this I will create a very simple Native SQL rule (it doesn't get much simpler than this). The rule below will provide no functionality to the Alpine Ski House Application (that will be a topic for a future post) but it will allow me to show you the necessary steps required to enable a native rule. Here is the SQL statement we will use for the rule:

select 1

Now we need to create the rule in the Business Modeler. I going to create a new rule set in the Corporate Costs model in the Alpine Ski House Application. Make sure the model is checked out and select the Business Rules tab. Now select Create a Rule Set. Enter Dev for the Name and Label. Make sure the rule set is Procedural and that is a Root rule set:

Select OK. Now we can create a native SQL rule. Right-Click the Dev Rule Set and select Create a New Rule.... . Enter Test SQL for the name and label of the rule. Set the rule type to Assignment and the implementation to Native SQL.

The first thing you will probably notice is that the rule has a status of Inactive. Do not change the status of the rule. After you have created the business rule you must save the rule with the Inactive Status or you will get an error. Now we can enter our simple business rule:

select 1

Once the rule has been entered you can now save the model site. At this point you will need a GA or a DBA to activate the rule in the Application Database. The GA or DBA will use SQL Server Management Studio to logon to the Application database and look for the rule in the RuleSetsOrRules table. Use the following query to find the rule we created in the Alpine_Ski_House_AppDB:

select * from dbo.RuleSetsOrRules
where RuleSetOrRuleLabel = 'Test SQL'

When you run this query you will notice that the IsActivated field is set to 0. We need to update this value to 1 so that the rule can be activated and executed from the Modeler. Now run the following query to update the IsActivated field to 1.

update dbo.RuleSetsOrRules
Set IsActivated = 1
where RuleSetOrRuleLabel= 'Test SQL'

Total row affected for the update query should equal one. If you want to check that the value was updated you can run this query again:

select * from dbo.RuleSetsOrRules
where RuleSetOrRuleLabel = 'Test SQL'

The IsActivated field will now contain the value of 1:

Now the GA or DBA can inform the Business Modeler that the rule is Active. Once the rule has been activated the Business Modeler can execute the rule. One thing to note though is that if you are creating Native SQL/MDX rules you will want to thoroughly test them outside of the Business Modeler because every time you modify and save the rule PerformancePoint will set the Status flag of the rule to InActive. This means that you have to save the rule and then get the GA or DBA to change the status to Active. Even if you are a GA or DBA rights this task would become tedious. Therefore it is a good idea to use a tool like SQL Server Management Studio to create your native rules. If you only have Business Modeler rights then you will want to work closely with your DBA to develop these rules.

Lets try running the rule. When you refresh the Business Modeler the rule Status will change from InActive to Active. You can right-click the rule and select Execute Rule Set or Rule... . You will probably be prompted to Deploy Rules and Variables. Answer yes to this. Once the rules and variables have been deployed the rule will be executed. If everything was setup correctly you should see the following message box:

Troy

Technorati Tags: performance point, performancepoint, budgeting, planning, business intelligence, microsoft

Cancelling Another User's Checkout

2008-05-31T12:39:00.001-07:00

Well its been about 8 Month's since I have made a post to my PerformancePoint blog. The last time I made a post to the blog I was working on a PerformancePoint Planning project using the CTP4 release. The project sucessfully deployed at the end of October 2007 and the customer was pleased with the results. After that I worked on another PerformancePoint project but this time it focused 100% on the Monitoring components of the product based on an Analysis Service Cube we built for them.

Over the last 4 months I have been engaged in a new PerforancePoint project using the RTM release of the product. We have not applied any of the updates for the RTM but I am looking forward for the Service Pack at the end of May or June. The current planning project is the largest our consulting team has developed to date. It has over 10 models, 200 plus business rules and 40-50 forms and reports. There is also requirements for formal Corporate reporting using Reporting Services against the PerformancePoint planning Schema. So hopefully I will have time to post any interesting ideas and issues we have during the project. In most cases I will try to use the Alpine Ski House application to demonstrate my point.

Now on to the actual post.....

For our current planning project there are up to three consultants making changes to the system whether it is creating forms/reports , making changes to dimension hierarchies or adding business rules. When a user checks out an object in the Business Modeler (Dimension, Model etc.) they are the only one who can make changes to it. Other users can still browse the object but they cannot perform any actions. If you find yourself locked out of a Dimension or Model I recommend developing a system where you send a group e-mail to your team members that you need access to a certain object in the Application. The other team member can then complete their changes and Check in the object.

Now of course there will always be the case where the person who checked out the object is out to lunch or decided to take the day off work (and have left their cell phone at home ). In this case if you are a Global Administrator (otherwise you will have to contact the Global Administrator) you might decide to simply log on to the Planning Administration Console and select Cancel Check . This is probably not a good idea. When you perform a Cancel Checkout it is at the model site level. It is not possible to select an object within the site. Secondly if you perform a Cancel Check out any changes made by the user before their last Save will be lost. This could potentially affect unsaved changes made to all dimensions and models in the model site!

Therefore it is important to only use this feature as a last resort or when you have verified that there are no unsaved changes in the Model Site. Even if the Cancel Checkout option saved the current changes, the Global Administrator should have the ability to cancel the checkout of a specific object instead of just the model site. This has been identified by Microsoft as a Known Issue:

http://office.microsoft.com/download/afile.aspx?AssetID=AM102421821033

Troy

Technorati Tags: performance point, performancepoint, budgeting, planning, business intelligence, microsoft

PerformancePoint Server 2007 RTM - Released!

2007-09-28T08:33:00.001-07:00

Last week PerformancePoint Server 2007 was released. Below are links to the Evaluation versions of the new product:

All software related to PerformancePoint Server including the above downloads can be found here:

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server

The Enterprise version of the software will be available to MSDN subscribers in early October and the it will be commercially available in early November according to the Microsoft Connect site. Online documentation for the product can be found on Microsoft TechNet:

PerformancePoint Server TechCenter

Troy

Technorati Tags: performance point, performancepoint, sql server 2005, analysis services, budgeting, planning, microsoft

Understanding the PerformancePoint Command Utility (PPSCMD)

2007-08-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

PPSCMD is the PerformancePoint Command Utility which is installed with the PerformancePoint Business Modeler. The tool is run from the command line and is called ppscmd.exe. The tool allows you to automate processes like loading data, updating dimensions and creating and deleting objects in PerformancePoint. More than likely you will integrate ppscmd into an SSIS (SQL Server Integration Services) package or create batch files and run it from the command line. Prior to CTP4 there was not a lot of documentation on the utility except in the Data Integration help file (search for: "Scriptable data integration"). In CTP4 the ppscmd utility is well documented in the Operation Guide (search for: "Using the PerformancePoint Planning Command Utility").

If you are running it from the command line you will want to add ppscmd.exe to the computers path. Below is an example of how to export the Account Dimension using ppscmd :

ppscmd ExportDimension /server http://myserver:46787 /app My_Application /site Corporate /dim Account "My Documents"

Here is how it works.

ExportDimesion is the command you are executing
/server option is the PerformancePoint Server address
/app option is the PerformancePoint application
/site option is the model site within the application
/dim option is the dimension you are exporting

Finally the "My Documents" is the destination folder on the local machine for the export. This script will create a comma separated file with all the Account Dimension data. This is useful if you want to make some manual changes to the Account Dimension. You can export the Account dimension file and make the changes in Excel. You could then use the ppscmd to import it back into PerformancePoint. Of course you could just use the Business Modeler to do this but it depends on what type of changes you need to make. Excel has a lot of useful formulas and sorting functionality which can save you a lot of time especially if you have a large number of members in a Dimension.

Troy

Technorati Tags: performancepoint, performance point, sql server 2005, budgeting, planning, business intelligence

Forms & Reports in PerformancePoint - Part 1 of 4

2007-08-19T10:56:00.001-07:00

In this 4 part series I will discuss the different methods of creating Forms & Report in Performance Point Planning. This post will be an introduction to what Forms and Reports are and a summary of the different approaches that can be used to create them.

Technically Forms and Reports are the same type of objects. Regardless of whether you are creating a Form or Report you must start the process by creating a Report. If you want to use the Report as a form you simply publish it using the Excel Add-in menu (the form must meet certain criteria to function properly). Forms allow you to use Reports for data entry by assigning it to an Assignment. It is also important to note that a report is made up of one or more matrixes. Each matrix can only be based on one PerformancePoint Model. There are three methods for creating a matrix and they are all accessed through the Excel Addin:

Authoring Pane

The documentation refers to it as a "dynamic user interface"
It is completely GUI based
It has some simple wizards for initially setting up the matrix
It has a design section for placing the dimensions in the row, column and filter sections of the report
PerformancePoint Excel Add-in help file provides detailed instructions on how to use this (Search for: "About the Authoring pane")
Note: Include the double quotes when searching the help file

Report Wizard

Wizard based tool that allows you to create a report based on a template
If you don't want to use an existing template you can start with the "blank" template
Once a report has been created with the Report Wizard you cannot use any other method to modify the report
You can also save the report as a template when you are finished
PerformancePoint Excel Add-in help file provides detailed instructions on how to use this (Search for: "Creating a report using the Report Wizard")

Custom MDX

It does not use a GUI
This approach gives you the most flexibility
Its the approach I use for my Report and Form development
Once a report is uses custom MDX it cannot use the Authoring Pane
It is for advanced users or for users that want to spend some time to learn MDX
You will want to have access to a developer tool like SQL Server Management Studio to write and test the MDX Queries
Minor modification may be required to the MDX before using it in a report (e.g. using the CurrentPeriod variable)
Here are some books you can use to get up to speed on the topic:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Server
- MDX Solutions

In Part 2 I will review how to create a matrix using the Authoring Pane and the Report Wizard (using the CTP4 release). These approaches are fairly straightforward because they are "wizard" based. Parts 3 and 4 of the series will focus on Custom MDX.

Troy

Technorati Tags: analysis services, budgeting, business intelligence, performance point, performancepoint, planning, sql server 2005

PerformancePoint Server CTP4 2007 Released

2007-08-18T10:09:00.001-07:00

PerformancePoint Server CTP4 was released this week on Wednesday, August 15 on the Microsoft Connect Site. My main focus for PerformancePoint has been with the Planning components. There has been some notable changes for Planning in this release:

Ability to Upgrade from CTP2 to CTP4

It is now possible to upgrade the entire system including the Planning Applications in CTP4 from CTP2
Detailed instructions are provided in the Documentation in the PPSDeployment and PPSOperations Guide (definitely read this before upgrading)
Note: Software prerequisites for SQL Server 2005 has changed. It requires build 3161 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=93385)

Business Modeler

PPSCmd (Business Modeler command-line utility) now has the ability to deploy and reprocess model and data
PPSCmd is also used in the upgrade process from CTP2 to CTP4
More Business Rules Templates. Below is a snapshot of the some of the templates for Definition Rules:

Excel Client

There is an important note in the documentation that states that the Excel Add-in is not production ready in CTP4
There has been some performance improvements like the ability to download a subcube for the assignments.
Reviewer and Approver changes are now handled through a single dialog

In terms of PerofrmancePoint Planning server there have been improvements to the performance and security. Additional details on what is new for Planning and Monitoring can be found in the "What's New" documents that comes with PerformancePoint.

I was able to upgrade one of my Virtual PC to CTP4 for Planning without installing build 3161 for SQL Server. You have to request build 3161 from Microsoft. Once I have the build I will try the upgrade again and post my results.

Troy

Technorati Tags: planning, performancepoint, budgeting, sql server 2005, performance point, business intelligence, analysis services

PerformancePoint 2007 - Deployment Guide Correction

2007-06-23T02:13:00.001-07:00

In the Deployment Guide documentation released for PerformancePoint CTP2 the software requirement section listed SQL Server Standard Edtion SP2 as the requirement for PerformancePoint. This is true for the Monitoring and Analytics components. However, for PerformancePoint Planning, SQL Server Enterprise is required for the Analysis Services piece of the Application suite.

This correction has been made in the CTP3 release of the Deployment Guide.

Troy

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PerformancePoint 2007 CTP3 Release

2007-06-23T02:03:00.001-07:00

PerformancePoint Server 2007 CTP3 was released on June 22, 2007 and can be downloaded from the Microsoft Connect Site . The new CTP3 release has many new enhancements for the PerformancePoint Monitorng and Analytics components. Some of the new features include:

Drill Down and Drill up capabilities for OLAP views
Time Intelligence Filters (filter selections base on current date)
Multi-Page dashboards
Dashboard Designer improvements
Analytic View Designer allows you to develop OLAP grids and chart view via drag and drop
Excel Services Support

The CTP3 release is just for Monitoring and Analytics. There is no CTP3 release for PerformancePoint Planning. For Planning there are hotfixes which can be applied to an existing CTP2 environment. You have to e-mail Microsoft to get the hotfixes and the details on how to install them.

Troy

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Deleting a Custom Member Property

2007-06-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

Member properties can be added to a Dimension by using the Business Modeler. Member properties allow you to add custom attributes to a dimension which can be used to create filters for PerforamancePoint Forms and Reports, provide a meaningful description for a dimension member ,logic in a business rule and more. However, in the current version of PerformancePoint (CTP2), once a member property is created it cannot be deleted. This lack of functionality is not a bug. It is documented in the PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler Help file under the content heading "Predefined dimensions" for some of the dimensions. Specifically if you look at the Currency Dimension there is a table that tells you what types of user defined objects can be created, updated or deleted for that dimension. Unfortunately this is only mentioned in a few places but the ability to delete a user defined member property is not possible for all dimensions.

Of course once I found out that you could not delete a member property I submitted a feedback item to the Microsoft Connect site as a suggestion. Furthermore I asked them if it was possible to do anything in the "back end" of the application to delete the property. The response to changing the back end, like deleting the member property from the Analysis Service cube, is that it would potentially cause errors in the PerformancePoint Application. There would be "sync" issues between the Analysis Service Cube and the PerformancePoint meta data layer. However, the good news is that Microsoft has accepted this as a valid suggestion so the functionality could change in future releases of the product. It is also important to remember that this lack of functionality doesn't really impact a PerformancePoint Planning Application. If you spend a little more time on design you can eliminate having a lot of unused member properties in the Application.

Troy

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Naming Objects in PerformancePoint Planning

2007-06-12T00:48:00.001-07:00

When you create an object in PerformancePoint Planning like a new Dimension, Model or Business Rule you must assign the object a Label and a Name. Besides choosing what type of naming conventions you want to use for each object in PerformancePoint it is important to consider the constraints for Labels and Names. First of all in most cases an object name has no reserved word or character restrictions and is should be designed to provide a user-friendly name for the object. However object names can be up to 256 characters in length with the following exceptions:

Member property names can be up to a 100 characters
Calendar Names and Calendar view names can be up to 40 characters, must be unique and cannot use restricted characters or reserved words

Labels on the other hands have a lot more rules and cannot exceed 40 characters. The Business Modeler also defaults the Label to the object name. This is fine if the object name does not violate any Label naming constraints for the object you are creating. Label restrictions exist for the following objects:

Applications
Model Sites
Models
Model Properties
Rules
Rule Sets
Rule Parameters
Dimensions
Member Sets
Member Views
Associations

However, the following objects have no restrictions when assigning a Label (other than the 40 character limit):

Member names
Users
Roles
Cycles
Assignments
Jobs
Job templates

For a list of restricted characters and reserved words do a search on "label rules" in the PerformancePoint Business Modeler help file and select "About name and labels" from the search result.

Troy

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Setting up the Alpine Ski House Sample App

2007-05-27T11:47:00.001-07:00

PerformancePoint Planning CTP2 comes with a sample application which is a fictitious multinational corporation called Alpine Ski House. In order to install the sample application you will need the following files which are available on the connect site:

PPLSASHSampAppInst.chm (Install Guide)
PPPSampleAppGde CTP2.doc (Walkthrough of the application)
PPS_Core_Questionnaire_Alpine_Ski_House.doc (Requirments gathering/Design doc)
PLSample.msi (Install/Config files)

I recommend reading through the PPLSASHSampAppInst.chm document before installing the sample application (PLSample.msi). PLSample.msi does not fully install it. It copies the necessary configuration files, database files and install scripts to:

%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\2007\Samples\Alpine Ski House

First, confirm that the DeploymentPaths.xml configuration file is set up properly. This file provides the location of osql.exe and ppscmd.exe. The file is located at

%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\2007\Samples\Scripts

<DeploymentPaths>
<Parameter Name="OSQL" Type="Path">"%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Tools\binn\osql.exe"</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="PPSCMD" Type="Alias">"%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\2007\BizModeler\PPSCmd.exe"</Parameter>
</DeploymentPaths>

Next, set up the DeploymentConfig.xml which is located at:

%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\2007\Samples\Alpine Ski House

Below is an example of the DeploymentConfig.xml. This config file is for a standalone install of PerformancePoint server. It could be used for a test or dev server. PerformancePoint Planning, SQL Server 2005 and the file shares are all on the same server. I also used the same user over and over again for the different roles. To make the sample application more realistic it would be a good idea to have more than one user on in the system.

DeploymentConfig>


<Parameter Name="DataSourceServer" Type="Server">whistler</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="DatasourceServerDataPath" Type="Uri">C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ReferenceDatabaseServer" Type="Server">whistler</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="AnalysisServicesServer" Type="Server">whistler</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="PerformancePointWebService" Type="Uri">http://localhost:46787</Parameter>

<Parameter Name="FormTemplatesLocation" Type="Uri">\\whistler\Workflow\FormTemplates</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ReportsLocation" Type="Uri">\\whistler\Workflow\Reports</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="AssignmentFormsLocation" Type="Uri">\\whistler\Workflow\FormAssignments</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="AssignmentMasterFormsLocation" Type="Uri">\\whistler\Workflow\FormMasterAssignments</Parameter>

<Parameter Name="SystemAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\ppsplanning</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="SeniorAccountantAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="SeniorAccountantAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="BackOfficeAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="BackOfficeAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="SeniorAnalystAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="SeniorAnalystAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="CFOAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="CFOAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="HRManagerAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="HRManagerAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ResortManagerAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ResortManagerAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ControllerAccount" Type="Account">WHISTLER\Administrator</Parameter>
<Parameter Name="ControllerAccountEmail" Type="Email">admin@whistler.com</Parameter>
</DeploymentConfig>

Once the config files are setup the application can be installed. Simply goto the command line and goto:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server\2007\Samples\Alpine Ski House

Type install and sit back while the install scripts run

Troy

Technorati tags: performance point, performancepoint, business intelligence, budgeting, planning, forecasting, sql server 2005, analysis services, sarbanes-oxley, microsoft

Microsoft Webcast: Performance Management 101

2007-05-12T14:19:00.001-07:00

Below is a link to a fairly recent web cast released in February 2007 from Microsoft. The webcast focuses more on "What is Performance Management?" rather than PerformancePoint 2007 Server. However it does discuss how the components of PerformancePoint Server 2007 fit into Performance Management process and provides screen shots of the different products (monitoring, analytics, planning) . The audience is geared towards IT Professionals. Overall it is a good high level introduction to Performance Management and PerformancePoint Server 2007:

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032323902&CountryCode=US

Troy

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Introducing the Business Modeler

2007-05-05T16:17:00.001-07:00

The Business Modeler is the main tool used to create and manage business models for PerformancePoint Planning Applications. Models are how data stored in the Planning Server. In fact each model that is created and then deployed in the Business Modeler becomes an Analysis Services cube. Since the Business Modeler was designed for business users , an IT understanding how the model is implemented is not crucial for using it.

Below are some screen shots of the Business Modeler (click the image for a better view) :

Site Summary provides a summary of all the objects in the Application for a specific site.

Dimensions are the building blocks of Planning Applications.
PerformancePoint Planning comes with a set of Pre-Defined dimensions like Time, Account, Entity and BusinessProcess
Each Dimension consists of members and member sets

Once the Dimensions have be configured you can start building the Models
As mentioned above, the models are the unit of data storage for Planning Applications
Models also contain business rules which are used for tasks like seeding data, allocations and copying data between models

This is a quick introduction to the Business Modeler. This tools requires both business and technical skills to use. For more information about the Business Modeler see the PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler Help documentation that comes with CTP2.

Troy

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Installing PerformancePoint Planning CTP2 - Standalone

2007-05-03T16:40:00.001-07:00

Performance Point Planning Server can be setup on as a standalone server or single virtual machine for testing and development. In the last 8 months I have been involved in presenting demos and a couple of POC's (Proof of Concept). I run a full version on my laptop (DELL Latitude D620, 2GHz, 2GB RAM, Windows XP SP2) using a single virtual machine that runs on Virtual Server 2005 R2.

Although a standalone install is not recommended for a production environment (by standalone I mean installing all the software on one box including the client components and pre-requisites), it is ok for testing out the product or development (with small amounts of data). Before you install PerformancePoint Server and the client components on one server the following software must be installed:

Next, PerformancePoint server Identity account is setup. This is a regular user account (e.g. ppsplanning) and must be setup before installing the PerformancePoint Planning service . Now install the following PerformancePoint software:

PerformancePoint Planning Server (PPLSrv.msi)
PerformancePoint Planning Business Modeler (PBMCLi.msi)
PerformancePoint Planning Excel Add-in (PPXLCi.msi)

I also recommend installing the following software on the same box:

Microsoft Office 2007 (at least Excel & Word)
SQL Server Management Studio
Business Intelligence Development Studio

This configuration works well for a single virtual machine and the server does not have to be part of a DOMAIN it can be a WOKRGROUP.

You must have access to the Microsoft Connect site and be part of the PerformancePoint Server 2007 CTP2 program to download the software and documentation. This is just an overview of what is required to get up and running with the Planning software. For a more detailed explanation you should reference the PerformancePoint Server 2007 Deployment Guide which is also available for download on the Connect Site.

Troy Scott, CMA

Technorati tags: performance point, sql server 2005, planning, budgeting, forecasting, microsoft, performancepoint

PerformancePoint CTP2 Release!

2007-04-17T01:23:00.001-07:00

Microsoft's PerformancePoint Server 2007 CTP2 was released on April 4, 2007 on the Microsoft Connect Site. The new release includes updates to PerformancePoint Planning and PerformancePoint Monitoring.

If you want to try out the latest release go to the Microsoft Connect Site and sign up for the Community Technology Preview (CTP) today. Access to the site allows you to download the following beta software:

PerformancePoint Planning 2007

PerformancePoint Planning Server
PerformancePoint Business Modeler
PerformancePoint Excel Addin
PerformancePoint Server Data Import Wizard for Microsoft Dynamics AX

PerformancePoint Monitoring 2007

PerformancePoint Monitoring Server
PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer

The site also provides the necessary documentation for deploying and designing PerformancePoint Applications. The CTP (beta) release allows you to test the new software and provide feedback to Microsoft about bugs and features or enhancements you would like to see in the product.

Feedback can be provided on the Connect site or by using the newsgroup.

Last week I just installed the CTP2 release on a virtual machine (Virtual Server 2005 R2) and I am currently testing out the new features available in this release.

Troy Scott, CMA

Technorati tags: performancepoint, planning, budgeting, business intelligence, microsoft, excel, sql server 2005, analysis services, sarbanes-oxley

Download the PerformancePoint Data Sheets

2007-03-14T00:59:00.001-07:00

Click on the link below to download the PerformancePoint datasheets. There are five in total focusing on product overview, analytics, monitoring, planning and reporting.

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Data Sheets

Each download is a couple of pages in length describing the benefits of the product and it also provides some screen shots too. The files are Adobe PDF.

Troy

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PerformancePoint Events - Canada

2007-03-12T16:51:00.001-07:00

Budgeting Solutions Using Microsoft Excel & PerformancePoint Planning

Join us for this morning seminar sponsored by Microsoft that will show you some new strategies for increasing the performance, data integrity and security of your existing Excel based Budgeting system. Troy Scott, CMA and senior consultant at Aculix Inc will present the newest financial reporting solution from Microsoft, PerformancePoint Server, that utilizes the Excel application we know and love but adds all the power of SQL Server 2005. For registration and event information, please click the link that corresponds to your city.

Calgary Thursday, March 22, 2007 http://www.cdnevents.com/PerformancePointCAL

Edmonton Wednesday, March 28, 2007 http://www.cdnevents.com/PerformancePointEDM

Vancouver Thursday, March 29, 2007 http://www.cdnevents.com/PerformancePointVAN

Technorati tags: performancepoint, performance point, excel, planning, budgeting, forecasting, certified management accountants, strategy map, vancouver canada, events

What is PerformancePoint 2007?

2007-03-10T12:43:00.001-08:00

PerformancePoint 2007 is a suite of applications which provides performance management solutions for planning, budgeting, and forecasting , business scorecarding and monitoring and analytics. The applications are built on Microsoft's existing SQL Server 2005 Architecture, SharePoint, Microsoft Excel (2003 or 2007) and ProClarity.

PerformancePoint builds upon your existing Microsoft Environment and is made up of the following new components:

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning
PerformancePoint Server 2007 Monitoring
PerformancePoint Server 2007 Analytics

I have been working with PerformancePoint Server Planning 2007 since the summer of 2006. I was involved in the Microsoft TAP program (Technology Adoption Program), so I have been working with the product since its alpha release. For now this blog will focus mostly on planning, budgeting and forecasting components of PerformancePoint.

Troy

Technorati tags: performancepoint, business intelligence, sql server 2005, sharepoint, strategy map, balance scorecard, budgeting