BI-Directional https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/feed.xml Would an organisation who never missed the obvious have a greater chance of being successful? Well, obviously... Wed, 17 Apr 2019 03:17:45 GMT en-US hourly 1 Parkesy's Got A Brand New Blog https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/parkesys-got-a-brand-new-blog Wed, 30 Aug 2006 14:42:53 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/08/30/parkesys-got-a-brand-new-blog/ Go on, take a look...

https://blogs.technet.com/chrisp/

I fully intend to keep this one up and running, together with content that is specifically Business Intelligence focused, it's just that the other one is much more me :)

Curious?

There's even a link to the worlds best joke on there, fact!

]]> Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Business Intelligence Demo https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/microsoft-office-excel-2007-business-intelligence-demo Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:50:40 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/08/22/microsoft-office-excel-2007-business-intelligence-demo/ I promised to post a video so here it is.

If you are curious about how you get from here...

ExcelPlain

...to here...

ExcelColour

...in Microsoft Office Excel 2007, take a look here:

Microsoft Office Excel 2007 BI Demo

There's no audio, it's all rather self explanatory but it may take a moment to load, so please be patient whilst looking at the PTS-TV logo.

In its entirety, the video is just over three minutes long - Please let me know what you think of it!

Credit to Camtasia for the coolest software that enabled me to create this clip.

]]> Are Office Excel 2007 Files Backwards Compatible? https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/are-office-excel-2007-files-backwards-compatible Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:35:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/08/10/are-office-excel-2007-files-backwards-compatible/ According to the FAQ they are - see the “System Requirements, Integration, and Compatibility” section, here:

https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/programs/excel/faq.mspx

However, when I was challenged recently by a customer as to exactly how backwards compatible they were regarding the new and improved Business Intelligence capabilities, I thought I’d better do some further investigation and this is what I found ...

Take a look at the following spreadsheet in Office Excel 2007, nice eh?  A lot of meaningful numbers but impossible to tell at a glance as to where the big number is, where the small number is...

With the tiniest bit of effort, Office Excel 2007 allows you to mark up the spreadsheet rather nicely in a visual format - check out the Conditional Formatting option on the Ribbon...

After we've nicely marked it up (I will post a link to a video on how to do this soon :), we're left with a couple of options when it comes to saving the file...

We could save it in its original format (The file opened was .xls, Office Excel 2003 format). This option lets us know that we're going to have a 'significant loss of functionality'...

Or, we could convert it to Office Excel 2007 format...

Office Excel 2007 is kind enough to let us know that if we do this, we can use all of the new features and reduce the size of the file...

So, I did both :) which left me with a full fidelity .xlsx file and an original .xls file...

Opening the .xls file in Excel gave me the exact same result (so nice and consistent) as doing the following steps.  First of all, Office Excel 2003 told me that the file had been created by a newer version and asked me if I wanted to download a converter...

Then, it took me to the Office Preview website where the file converters live...

It guided me through installing the first update required, a file format awareness update...

Then, it guided me through installation of the Office Compatibility Pack...

Following installation, when I double clicked the .xlsx file, I got a brief conversion in progress dialog followed by the following message, letting me know that the file had been opened read only to ensure that nothing in the original file would be lost due to compatibility issues...

 

Finally, the file looked like this when it was opened (not that this is the same for the .xlsx with the file converters installed and the version saved as .xls)...

So, to conclude, it appears that new features that exist only in Office Excel 2007 only work in Office Excel 2007. However, the files, to the best of their capabilities are backwards compatible. Where’s the justification for this though? Well, if I brought a brand new car with air conditioning and a CD player fitted as standard, I can imagine the response that would be given if my mate, who, for arguments sake, had purchased an older model, would get if he took it back to the dealer and asked why he hadn’t got it!!! So, I guess this is to be expected...

Be sure to check out the Office Preview website for all the latest information on the 2007 Microsoft Office System:

https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx

For a comprehensive FAQ on the Office file formats take a look here:
https://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/itpro/filefaq.mspx

]]> PTS-TV, Chris Parkes & Business Scorecard Manager https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/pts-tv-chris-parkes-business-scorecard-manager Mon, 26 Jun 2006 13:52:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/06/26/pts-tv-chris-parkes-business-scorecard-manager/ Well, long time no post but this really means I've had little to say over the past few weeks via print.  However, here's me, via PTS-TV talking about Business Intelligence and in particular scorecarding using Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager.

https://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv_chrisparkes.wvx

Never in my life did I think I'd be downloadable but if you really feel the need, right click and save target as...

https://download.microsoft.com/documents/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv/pts-tv_chrisparkes.wmv

I think I'm the first member of the PTS team to get the fine interviewer (Katie Ledger) to start talking in acronyms before the interviewee :)

If you've a spare 12 minutes 15 seconds, feel free take a look - as an added bonus, you even get to see what kind of award you get for putting in five years service at Microsoft..!

If you like what you see, you can find plenty more PTS-TV on many varied topics here.

https://www.microsoft.com/uk/partner/blog/pts-tv

]]> Beyond Business Intelligence https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/beyond-business-intelligence Thu, 18 May 2006 08:09:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/05/18/beyond-business-intelligence/ The latest Bill Gates Executive email has been posted to the web.  Essential reading if you care to understand Microsoft's vision and strategy looking forward to the next ten years around information overload/underload, productivity, collaboration, business intelligence and workflow optimisation.

 

Beyond Business Intelligence: Delivering a Comprehensive Approach to Enterprise Information Management

https://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/

]]> Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager (BSM) 2005 https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/microsoft-business-scorecard-manager-bsm-2005 Mon, 15 May 2006 11:07:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/05/15/microsoft-business-scorecard-manager-bsm-2005/ In essence, there are two parts to this scorecarding solution, Microsoft Business Scorecard Server and Microsoft Business Scorecard Builder.

 

The server product allows you to manage scorecards through a central deployment mechanism and the builder provides a way for business analysts to quickly prototype, create and publish scorecards to be deployed via the server to SQL Server Reporting Services or Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.

 

 

 

Multiple data sources can be catered for through ODBC (e.g. Access/Excel) and ADOMD.Net connectivity for SQL Server Analysis Services cubes.  Each scorecard can have many different associated views and perhaps most importantly, each view of the scorecard can be broken down into separate objectives with multiple key performance indicators (KPI’s) and each of the KPI’s can have additional contextual information associated with them through report views.

There are many different types of indicators from traffic light style details to trend arrows, rev counters, data bars and even the expected smiley face icons!

You can find step by step instructions on installing both products with SQL Server 2005 here https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA101056881033.aspx

 

In addition, there is free online technical training available here https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA100621081033.aspx

 

Finally, you can download a trial version of the software from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=96F12385-AD47-494B-9DA4-60BBCD0D1B57&displaylang=en. Both products are less than 2Mb so it won’t take too long!

 

]]> What type of organisation are you? https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/what-type-of-organisation-are-you Tue, 09 May 2006 08:37:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/05/09/what-type-of-organisation-are-you/ When we look at the integrated Business Intelligence offering from the Microsoft stack, it’s important to understand how each component can be used to address the needs of individual organisations.  For example, each component of the BI stack can be used to address many different challenges faced by organisations.

 

Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager sits squarely at the top of the stack and along with SQL Server Reporting Services is the most end user focussed product in the entire solution.

 

Typically, there are two types of situations an organisation can find themselves in with regards to their data and information systems strategy.  Some organisations still languish in data poverty whereby many disconnected line of business applications such as finance, sales and human resources reside and operate independently of each other.

 

 

Whilst components of the Microsoft solution stack can help address data analysis needs, drive access to information and provide reporting capabilities, lack of integration can still be a barrier to true BI.

 

On the flipside of this, many organisations with an integrated systems strategy can be seen to suffer from data overload where conflicting conclusions can be drawn leading to confusion about the relevance of information.

 

 

The ability to provide one version of the (ever changing) truth can be achieved through the use of a scorecard to help organisations understand key performance indicator metrics against targets from a variety of different data sources.

 

 

When we begin to look at what an organisation needs from a scorecard, for example, the ability to summarise information through contextual analysis and/or receive alert notifications of important changes in performance metrics and trends then the real value of Microsoft Business Scorecard Manager can be more easily understood.

]]> An Independent View of the BI "Stack" https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/an-independent-view-of-the-bi-stack Mon, 24 Apr 2006 10:45:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/04/24/an-independent-view-of-the-bi-stack/ I came across this interesting article whilst scouring the news the other day.  It's nice to see a report indicating how Microsoft are positioned regarding the "stack" nowadays when it comes to Business Intelligence.
 
"...Microsoft credibly tout a more complete BI stack than just about any other vendor..."
 
The article is titled "Why Microsoft and Oracle want to be your one stop shop for BI" and you can find it along with some other interesting observations here...
https://www.adtmag.com/article.aspx?id=18373
]]> So what is the solution “stack”? https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/so-what-is-the-solution-stack Wed, 19 Apr 2006 09:32:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/04/19/so-what-is-the-solution-stack/ So what exactly is the Microsoft BI Story? And why, when you look into it do you hear so much about a solution “stack”?  I think the simplest way to think about this is by using a kind of jigsaw analogy to solve a puzzle…  Think of each component part of a piece of software as a piece in the overall puzzle solution.  An organisation can select each piece of the puzzle needed to complete their own solution, from the required infrastructure to the database and on to the end user applications.  Each piece of their solution is joined together to build a “stack” of technology on which their business applications can sit, safe in the knowledge that the technology will work together as seamlessly as pieces in a jigsaw puzzle fit.

 

 

In the Microsoft Business Intelligence technology “stack”, we have:

 

  • Business Scorecard Manager (BSM)
  • Microsoft SharePoint Products & Technologies
  • Microsoft Excel
  • SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
  • SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
  • SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)
  • SQL Server Relational Database Management System (SSRDBMS)

]]> Holiday Time https://docs.microsoft.com/archive/blogs/bidirectional/holiday-time Thu, 30 Mar 2006 08:31:00 GMT https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/bidirectional/2006/03/30/holiday-time/ So, no sooner do I start a new blog that I head off to a much wamer climate than the UK at present :)  Back in ten days...

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