Microsoft Sharepoint/MOSS & BI Tools

[jedownsjr]

Could someone please provide a high-level overview of Microsoft BI tools?

I hear of MOSS/Sharepoint/WSS, SQL Reporting Services, Excel Services, Dashboards, and just plain "BI".

If you were to list Microsoft's BI tools, what would they be?

 

[mrdenny]

Some of the Microsoft BI tools would be:

SQL Integration Services
Excel
SQL Reporting Services
Sharepoint
Microsoft Access

Pretty much anything which can use used to view data and analyze data, or deliver data to users could be considered a BI tool.

BI stands for Business Intelligence which is a concept more than a specific product.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

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[jedownsjr]

Thanks for the answer!

 

[MDXer]

I don't know if I would say Access is included as a BI tool.

The Microsoft BI World breaks down in the following way

Data Warehouse - SQL Server
ETL - SSIS
OLAP Engine & Data mining - SSAS
Reporting -
Static Reports - SSRS
Dashboarding - Performance Point Server (SQL 2008 will allow for reports to have some dashboarding capabilties)
Adhoc analysis - Proclarity (Which is being folded into Performance Point)
Excel can do some Dashboarding and adhoc really need 2007 at a minimum for excel to be of any use.


A user group I went to had a Reporting Services 2008 presentation and they have listened to a lot of the complaints people had regarding Reporting Services especially in the Data Visualization area. They aquired the visualization technology from dundas, which has resulted in massive improvements in charting and graphing capabilities.

Remember these are just the tools and the core to successful BI is a development team where people understand the various BI methodologies and product lifecycle.

Paul
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Shoot Me! Shoot Me NOW!!!
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[jedownsjr]

Thanks, this is really the high-level overview I was looking for.

 

[MDXer]

Also if you read or see any MS BI presentation their long term vision is for Excel to really be the tool used for accessing data, but the functionality of all the other apps will be folded into future versions of excel.

Paul
---------------------------------------
Shoot Me! Shoot Me NOW!!!
- Daffy Duck