10 reasons to use PowerPivot for self service Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence has matured extensivley since the term was first thron around a decade or so ago! Many companies developed solutions to capture this market and to ensure that busness executives where getting dashboard data in ways that would grow their business. Microsoft embraced self service Business Intelligence and delivered MS SharePoint and MS PowerPivot. Two products that can really help your business expand and grow, using “out-the-box” functionality and designs.

The following extract from the Microsoft website details the top reasons for trying PowerPivot.

PowerPivot for Excel is a data analysis tool that delivers unmatched computational power directly within the application users already know and love—Microsoft Excel. It’s the user-friendly way to perform data analysis, using familiar Excel features you already know, such as the Office Fluent user interface, PivotTable and PivotChart views, and Slicers. It’s the fast way to generate rich and interactive analysis tools that look like you’ve spent weeks building. It’s the right way to achieve deeper business insight and shorter decision cycles.

1. Enjoy fast calculations and analysis on large data volumes.
Use the PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in to get quicker analysis of large data sets on the desktop. PowerPivot, using its in-memory engine and efficient compression algorithms, can process even huge data sets with extremely quick performance. You can process millions of rows with about the same performance as a few hundred rows.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Take advantage of Data Analysis Expressions.
Enjoy the familiarity of Excel expressions when using Data Analysis Expressions (DAX) to build advanced analysis applications. Perform powerful manipulations beyond standard Excel capabilities, follow relationships between tables as in a database, and define sophisticated calculations using familiar and intuitive expressions. Use powerful relational capabilities to create advanced analytics applications using expressions like SamePeriodLastYear(), ClosingBalances (), Previous Day(), etc.

3. Capitalize on existing skills and familiar Excel features.
Leverage familiar Excel features that you already know, such as PivotTables, PivotCharts, and Slicers. Even the new DAX functions follow familiar Excel syntax. If you know how to work with Excel, you already know how to work with PowerPivot.

4. Integrate data from virtually any source.
Discover intricate information by combining data from a multitude of sources, including relational databases, spreadsheets, reports, text files, and Internet data feeds. PowerPivot can determine data relationships automatically and create a customizable model of fact and dimension tables for fast in-memory analysis.

5. Drill down to the key relevant data quickly.
Take advantage of intuitive Excel slice-and-dice functionality to quickly focus on relevant data. Use the Slicer to view your data from different perspectives, filter the data to display just what you need, and enjoy new search capabilities to spend less time sifting through massive quantities of data and more time analyzing.

6. Work seamlessly via a Web browser.
Publish your analysis in SharePoint and access your shared applications directly in the browser without having to download the workbooks with all their data to every workstation. Enjoy an attractive user interface in SharePoint, browsing at its best, and the same performance and features as in the Excel client.

7. Share and collaborate on analysis with others.
Turn your workbooks into shared applications accessible virtually anytime and from almost any location to increase the productivity of your team with PowerPivot for Excel 2010. Benefit from all the available SharePoint features, such as role-based security, workflows, and versioning.

8. Automatically refresh shared applications.
Ensure that your team makes decisions based on most recent data by conveniently configuring the refresh cycle for your workbook applications in the SharePoint user interface. SharePoint can automatically update the data from any source.

9. Discover and build upon existing solutions.
Reuse shared applications as data sources in new analysis to dig deeper, faster and compress decision cycles. Rely on SharePoint as a secure collaboration platform for centralized access to shared applications, browse the sites you have permissions to access, and integrate any available shared application into your current investigations and analyses.

10. Track and monitor analysis applications from a central dashboard.
Let your IT administrators monitor your shared applications to ensure that your solutions are continuously available. In a SharePoint environment, IT administrators can track usage patterns over time, drill down to obtain more details, discover solutions that become mission-critical through organic growth, and make sure appropriate server resources are available.