Database Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 7
PerformancePoint
PerformancePoint provides a very powerful toolset dedicated to designing
scorecards and dashboards. PerformancePoint, being introduced in 2007, is
one of the newest Microsoft business intelligence (BI) tools.
Compared with other Microsoft BI tools, PerformancePoint offers the designer
the most useful functionality. As a key benefit for rapidly designing content,
most of the useful functionality need not require planning and specific imple-
mentation because the features are common options associated with the
various scorecard elements. Balancing this functionality is less control over
visual elements, and rather limited print and export options. This chapter
will provide an introduction to key PerformancePoint functionality used to
develop visualizations.
TABulAR VeRSuS MulTIDIMenSIonAl
SouRCeS
The key foundational element used with a PerformancePoint solution is a data
source. The data source supplies data for use by key performance indicators
(KPIs), analytic charts, grids, dashboard filters, and other PerformancePoint
objects. The types of data sources supported for use with PerformancePoint
include tabular and multidimensional sources. It is important to note that
PerformancePoint will treat both tabular and multidimensional sources the
same way for the purpose of design activities.
Analysis Services
in Tabular mode is
treated as a multidi-
mensional source in
PerformancePoint,
and its tables
are treated as
dimensions.
Tabular data sources include Excel spreadsheets, Excel Services spread-
sheets, SharePoint lists, and relational database tables. These tabular-type
