PerformancePoint Blog » Project Gemini

$20,000 to create a single BI report? (or: Yeah, PowerPivot is cool, but it can save you bucks, too.)

Russell — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:43:10 +0000

Over on the Forrester Blog, Boris Evelson has written an interesting post about the real cost of creating a single BI report in the enterprise. He estimates a price tag of between $1,840 and $20K per report after one factors in expenditures on software, services, salaries, hardware etc. He suggests four general approaches to lowering BI costs, and PowerPivot neatly enables at least two of the four strategies. Is PowerPivot [ Read More ]

PowerPivot, DAX and Semi-additive measures

Russell — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:45:29 +0000

Over the week-end I was doing some analysis on SQL Server disk usage, and wanted to be able to display current disk usage by database. Up to this point, I'd mainly been doing a SUM over my measures. Well, that would make no sense in this scenario -

SQL Server Reporting Services Reports in the PowerPivot Gallery

Russell — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:56:06 +0000

Yes, it is totally possible to publish a SSRS report into your PowerPivot Gallery - In fact, the gallery invites you to do so with the "New Report Builder Report" item in the PowerPivot gallery's silverlight application. But as my buddy George O

Creating useful PowerPivot data models for public consumption via Reporting Services

Russell — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:13:29 +0000

If you've played with PowerPivot at all, it's pretty obvious how flexible the tool is in terms of creating data models. After you initially create a model, you may want to spend some additional time with it to make sure users can easily leverage what

PowerPivot charting tip of the day

Russell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:51:08 +0000

File this under "duh", but if your goal is to show PowerPivot charts to their best effect in the SharePoint PowerPivot Gallery, then.... Hide those chart data sheets, ladies! Simple, but makes a world of difference in terms of how cool your re

PowerPivot Virtual Lab now available online

Russell — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:28:15 +0000

Want to play with PowerPivot (Project Gemini) without going through the hassle of installing Office, SharePoint, etc? Try the newly released virtual lab! https://cmg.vlabcenter.com/default.aspx?moduleid=ad3bd3e9-8d2b-498d-94fa-e41e1b09730d Upda

Why do DBAs fear and loathe Excel?

Russell — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:00:30 +0000

I was in an inflammatory mood at the beginning of the week and tweeted the following at #sqlpass:

DBAs don't like it, but Excel IS the database for many. This hasn't and won't change. Manage to this reality.

The