Microsoft to bring Business Intelligence to the Masses

On January 27, Microsoft revealed plans to change their business intelligence strategy. This change, announced by Kurt DelBene, senior vice president of the Office Business Platform Group, announced the intention to incorporate Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Enterprise edition as “PerformancePoint Services.” See the official announcement at: https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/jan09/01-27KurtDelbeneQA.mspx

The change will not immediately affect the PerformancePoint Server 2007 documentation on Microsoft TechNet. Microsoft will continue to fully support customers who own Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 into the next decade. In the meantime, a release is scheduled for mid-2009 for PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 3 that will include updates to the current Planning Server. DelBene stated that after the SP3 release Microsoft will no longer offer a stand-alone version of Office PerformancePoint Server 2007.

Microsoft’s mission has always been to “bring BI to the masses” and the incorporation of Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 features into Office SharePoint Server helps to fulfill that mission. PerformancePoint Services for SharePoint will involve Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Office Excel, and the Microsoft SQL Server BI platform. The scorecard, dashboard, and analytic functionality in Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server will be integrated with Office SharePoint Server Enterprise.

After PerformancePoint Services is included in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Enterprise edition, the Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server, Monitoring and Analytics functionality will be a license entitlement for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Enterprise E-CAL customers with Software Assurance only.