Many of you may be aware that Microsoft have recently decided to repackage functionality previously badged as Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server (see the announcement below). Effectively they are moving the Monitoring & Analytics components (Dashboard tools, web-based analytical components & what used to be Business Scorecard Manager) into the SharePoint Enterprise CAL or e-CAL.
Many users, partners and clients will be at first glance disappointed to hear that the Planning component of PerformancePoint is being sidelined with the next Service Pack (SP3) being the last set of significant enhancements.
It is important however to take a balanced view of the changes and how they may affect you. Budgeting, Planning and Consolidation processes lived and thrived long before PerformancePoint Planning's relatively recent introduction and those looking for a best-of-breed solution still have many options from both Microsoft and other vendors - including established offerings from the likes of Oracle's Essbase and Hyperion Planning; and for those looking to build upon a cohesive Microsoft BI stack can take confidence that we have been delivering solutions to these problems with Microsoft tools for many years.
At Altius, we had delivered Planning solutions based upon the Microsoft BI stack to dozens of clients before PerformancePoint was even a glint in a product manager's eye. With global rollouts of a solid Microsoft BI-delivered Management Information solution operating for BP globally, along with many other clients utilising similar solutions we are well placed to continue to deliver solid, cost-effective solutions to the SME and Global FTSE 100 alike.
Many Microsoft partners who invested in Planning functionality for the first time with PerformancePoint will be having a tough time. Where their experience in the real commercial drivers behind such a solution is based solely around a piece of technology (PerformancePoint Planning) rather than a genuine need and business process, their planning practices are likely to suffer. Those who engaged with Planning because is came bundled with the Monitoring components they specialised in will find solace in the fact that those components will become available to all those with SharePoint Enterprise licenses (and Software Assurance) and will be in a position to offer those services to a broader set of clients who now have the licenses to deliver enhance benefits to their businesses as part of SharePoint, but those partners will be unlikely to have a strong enough Budgeting, Planning & Consolidation offering to continue to make the best offering to clients in that market.
Our 15 year heritage in helping clients deliver value to their business, not based solely upon what a product does 'out of the box', but upon the drivers that they need to make their business successful has put us in a unique position to support you, our customers. I look forward to working with you to showcase the great solutions we've delivered for multi-national clients such as BP and a host of other organisations - before, through and beyond the demise of, PerformancePoint Planning.
For reference, I've included some common questions and answers relating to PerformancePoint's path over the coming months below. If you'd like more information or would like to discuss how this affects your company's BI roadmap, feel free to drop me a line on planningisthefuture@altiusconsulting.com or call +44 (0) 1483 418 628 and ask for Matt Quinn.
The statements below are from a Microsoft release - it's provided as-is, with no warranty for errors or omissions:
Announcement:
Microsoft is announcing an update to its Microsoft Business Intelligence roadmap. Microsoft’s strategy is to deliver BI to everyone in the organization through the broadly adopted tools of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and Microsoft Office Excel, and built on the scalable Microsoft SQL Server BI platform. Based on customer feedback, we are moving the scorecard, dashboard, and analytic functionality from Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server into Office SharePoint Server Enterprise, making these capabilities available throughout the organization at a lower TCO. In mid 2009, we will release PerformancePoint Server 2007 “service pack 3” which will include updates to the current product’s planning module. Thereafter, customers should not expect further investment in standalone versions of PerformancePoint Server. However, ongoing support of our planning customers is a high priority. These changes enable customers to deploy a complete BI solution with existing investments in SharePoint Server, SQL Server, and Excel, the most widely used analysis and planning tool in market today.
Q&A:
1. What will happen to PerformancePoint Server?
PerformancePoint Server 2007 will no longer be a standalone item on the Microsoft price list as of April 1, 2009. For organizations interested in PerformancePoint Server, it can be obtained by purchasing SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise CAL with Software Assurance. In the future, the monitoring and analytics capabilities will be included in the next release of SharePoint Server and will be available to SharePoint Enterprise CAL customers. Customers with rights to PerformancePoint Server SP3 will be able to download it mid 2009 (please contact your account manager [or partner] for details). Performance management is a critical component of business intelligence and Microsoft will continue marketing and R&D investment in this area in future product releases.
2. What about from now until SharePoint ‘v-next’?
How will I obtain the current PerformancePoint monitoring and analytics functionality for broad BI deployment?
From the date of this announcement, PerformancePoint Server will be a license entitlement for SharePoint Server 2007 E-CAL customers with Software Assurance only. The technical requirement to use PerformancePoint planning will continue to be SQL Server Enterprise Edition. Customers will be able to use BI throughout their entire organizations simply by deploying SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and Excel.
3. What about support for existing PerformancePoint Server planning customers?
Customer care is our primary focus during this transition. We will keep our commitments to deliver improved planning capabilities in PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP3 in mid 2009 that addresses many of the features and functionality required by our customers to leverage in their planning projects. We will continue to support all PerformancePoint customers per our existing support policy. For further details on this policy visit: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=12922.
4. What about legacy products such as ProClarity and Business Scorecard Manager?
ProClarity Analytics Server and ProClarity Desktop Pro are PerformancePoint Server 2007 Software Assurance benefits, and Business Scorecard Manager (BSM) is a downgrade right of PerformancePoint Server 2007. By the Office ‘v-next’ timeframe, we expect much of the ProClarity Analytics Server functionality to be moved into SharePoint Server and Excel. As for Business Scorecard Manager and ProClarity Desktop Pro, we don’t anticipate any further customer demand for these products as a result of this news.
5. Will customers still be able to purchase PerformancePoint Server if they require more licenses for an existing deployment?
No, not as a standalone product. If customers require additional PerformancePoint Server 2007 CALs, they should purchase SharePoint Server 2007 E-CALs with Software Assurance to be entitled to PerformancePoint Server 2007 CALs.
6. If I have additional questions, who do I contact?
If you have additional questions, please first work with your [Microsoft Gold Partner or] Microsoft account team. If you have additional questions following that, you can contact PerformancePoint Server Roadmap Announce team pps_an@microsoft.com.