Decide Whether Microsoft Business Intelligence Fits the Bill

Microsoft’s Business Intelligence offering has matured to become a legitimate full-stack contender Most organizations use Excel as an analytics tool. Few consider themselves to be Microsoft Business Intelligence users, so Microsoft is leveraging Excel’s market share to grow their BI business. This research is designed for: Organizations that use Excel as an analytics tool. IT departments that publish enterprise reports using SQL Server Report Services. Organizations running on a Microsoft platform who are considering a BI investment. This research will help you decide: If you’re already tied to Microsoft’s BI tools. Whether to spend any more time looking at the new platform. How to approach an upgrade if you are using previous versions of these products. “ “ Excel is widely used by analysts to do number crunching, and this creates stove piped systems. Hopefully with the BI platform, we can drive changes in the way analysis is currently being done. - Systems Analyst, Insurance

and recommends approaches to making it work. Microsoft’s BI platform is suitably aimed at existing Excel & SQL Server users who want an affordable BI solution This research highlights major changes in this release, identifies areas of concern, and recommends approaches to making it work.

Executive Summary Definition: What is Microsoft’s BI Strategy? Microsoft’s BI strategy involves Office Suite, Business Collaboration, and Database market share: you might get their BI platform indirectly, by upgrading. Your organization is already a Microsoft BI user if people use Excel for analytics, even if you don’t have a formal BI practice. Microsoft is leveraging Excel’s massive market penetration and making it easier to practice BI, with or without IT support. Microsoft BI 2010: What’s New? The most notable addition is PowerPivot, the free Excel add-in for complex analytics. SharePoint now acts as a repository, server, and data source for Excel/PowerPivot files. SQL Server has improvements across the board, most notably in Report Services. Typical Solution Architectures The full BI suite involves Office 2010 Professional Plus, SharePoint 2010 Enterprise, and SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise/Datacenter. Parallel Data Warehouse offers massive scale. The Technology: Making It Work Data quality will be a top issue: Microsoft is promoting a de-centralized BI strategy, but de-centralization can impair data quality. Ensure analytics involve quality data. Use SQL Report Services for reporting and resist the temptation to turn Excel into a reporting tool. Use SharePoint to combat data sprawl. The Bottom Line: Processes That Matter If you do it right, people and processes will cost more than the technology involved in this solution. Resist the temptation to turn the technology loose without IT leadership. Even if you normally don’t outsource to Microsoft Partners, this is the place to consider it because of the complexity involved in getting value from BI. Microsoft’s BI solution is recommended for organizations without a formal BI solution that already use Microsoft tools for reporting and analytics. The solution isn’t as well suited for large enterprise, specific vertical market needs, small organizations with lower budgets, and non-Microsoft shops.

The BI Insight Maturity Spectrum shows the difference between data and insight. Ensure your BI investments are exposing insight rather than simply shouting data Insight Data Effort manual effort required seamlessly integrated into workflow Role displays database content guides decisions Data Currency static dynamic Data Quality bring your own rigor systemic rigor Scope point in time historical context Intent informational content predictive, prescriptive, and directive Confidence the value ‘seems’ obvious analytics prove it: the right answers to questions that matter Focus your BI program on the delivery of insight before investing time & money

Definition: What is Microsoft’s BI Strategy? Microsoft BI 2010: What’s new? Typical Solution Architectures The Technology: Making It Work The Bottom Line: Processes That Matter 1 1 2 3 4 5 Next Section in Brief The Microsoft BI platform is based on SQL Server, SharePoint, and Excel. Their strategy involves Office Suite and Database market share. The enhancements make it easier for the end user to practice ‘self serve analytics’ and reduce their reliance on IT. Organizations that use Excel for analytics, yet don’t consider themselves to be a Microsoft BI user, need to take action.

The new BI solution comes with the upgrade to Determine if the Microsoft BI platform has already grown organically in your organization Microsoft’s BI solution is based on Office, SharePoint, and SQL Server; you probably did not buy these products for BI. Microsoft’s BI strategy involves Office Suite, Business Collaboration, and Database market share; you might get their BI platform indirectly, by upgrading. Only 27% of our survey respondents said their organization is a Microsoft BI user, but: 61% are using SQL Server 2008 or 2005 SQL 2008 R2 84% are using Excel 2007 or 2003 Excel 2010 52% are using SharePoint 2007 or 2003 SharePoint 2010 The new BI solution comes with the upgrade to

Look for the under-satisfied demand for end-user analytics The traditional BI model involves three types of end users. 1 2 Process Owners Leaders and Decision-Makers that are served by dashboards and scorecards that show metrics, KPI’s, and trends Report Consumers End users such as sales and service agents that are served by reporting solutions particular to their role in the business Analysts using organized data Advanced users performing analytics and data mining using pre-defined and pre-organized data structures such as OLAP and ROLAP Analysts using unorganized data PowerPivot is a free add-in to Excel 2010 that allows business users to load and analyze massive volumes of data without having to rely on IT to prepare it first 3 4 Microsoft has aggressively targeted a new fourth type of user with PowerPivot. Microsoft is leveraging the fact that Excel is the most widely-adopted BI tool on the planet by overcoming two glaring limitations: data access & capacity. Info-Tech Insight

Prepare to support ‘Team BI’ & ‘Personal BI’ if you implement this platform Organizational BI The traditional BI platform involves rigorous data management and an IT-centric approach. This is best for large datasets, structured data, and complex business rules. Team BI When analytic models need to be shared in a collaborative model, SharePoint 2010 supports the distribution of this value using Excel Services and PowerPivot Services. Personal BI PowerPivot allows end-users to do ‘personal BI’ by developing their own datasets and reports on the fly using ad-hoc data sources. Don’t: Force everything through IT. For agility, end-users may drive more value by-passing IT with Team-based or Personal BI Solutions. Don’t: Encourage the proliferation of spreadsheets via email, LANs, and laptops by overlooking SharePoint’s strengthened BI support. Don’t: Abdicate IT’s responsibility to ensure high volume, sensitive, and mission-critical BI needs are delivered in the formal analytics model using SSAS. IT’s role will shift from keepers of data to enablers of insight. Info-Tech Insight

Formalize your BI practices to drive success if your organization is an ‘Undeclared’ Microsoft BI user Many organizations use Microsoft’s tools for BI activities, but don’t consider themselves to be Microsoft BI users. In Info-Tech’s survey, 81% of organizations use Excel ‘heavily’ for analytics… … but 71% of organizations using Excel ‘heavily’ for analytics do NOT consider themselves to be Microsoft BI users. If Excel analytics drive strategy or offer decision support, you’re a BI user. Accept it and formalize it. “My organization relies heavily on Excel as an analytics tool” No 19% Yes 81% Yes 29% The ‘Undeclared’ Microsoft BI users are less likely to capitalize on strategic business opportunities. They have more costly and less effective BI because they lack formalized data access, data quality, training, standards, oversight, and re-use. No 71% “My organization is a Microsoft Business Intelligence user”

and helps you to assess risks and opportunities. Decide if you want to increase self-serve analytics & collaboration before selecting this solution Excel Services PerformancePoint PowerPivot Services App Server SharePoint Server 2010 Report Services Analysis Services Integration Services Master Data Services SQL Server 2008 R2 Data Server BIDS Web Browser UI Report Builder 3 Excel The end user has better tools for accessing data, analyzing trends, and communicating insight. The solution should help them get better at self-serve BI. Collaboration via SharePoint plays a major role in Microsoft’s new BI vision. It’s designed to centralize the management of data sources and spreadsheets in order to drive consistency and avoid data sprawl. SQL is a more complete BI engine with across-the-board improvements and the addition of some large-enterprise functionality that will help Microsoft’s move up-market in coming years. The next section highlights major changes introduced with Microsoft’s 2010 BI platform and helps you to assess risks and opportunities. Industry estimates place Microsoft’s BI market share at around 10% based on revenue. However, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that Excel is used for BI purposes in the majority of companies. They have low market share, but massive penetration. Info-Tech Insight

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