Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007- PerformancePoint Services (formerly Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007) is a platform for building controlling systems that support organizations in the processes of planning, budgeting, ratio analysis, consolidation and reporting.
As part of the price of the Software Assurance licence for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise, three server applications are available, among other things:
Planning server allows to build systems that enhance the processes of: planning and budgeting, cost calculation, financial consolidation and reporting. In that application, we define the enterprise’s budget model, budgeting forms, as well as security mechanisms which determine which employees have access to which budget line items. Defining of budget cycles (workflow) ensures a multistage nature of the process of budgets’ approval as well as monitoring of timeliness of work on the budget. Interestingly, the user’s interface for the person who enters the relevant records is Excel. It does not, however, store data, but sends it to the central database. The Business Rules mechanism implemented in PerformancePoint Services allows to define mechanisms for the automatic re-counting of those budget line items which depend on others; it is also possible to define algorithms for the allocation or distribution of values.
Analytics Server offers tools which considerably surpass Excel as regards the potential for multidimensional analysis. It enables exploration of data in search of trends and relationships. Advanced ways of visualization make it easier for users to carry out a rapid analysis and considerably reduce the time needed to reach key information. Such visualizations include e.g.:
Building of indicators
One of the most significant features of the solution by Microsoft is the user’s being able to create the indicators and queries he or she needs without knowing the language of queries to multidimensional databases and without the right to modify the analytical database (the created indicators and selections are saved on the SharePoint Server and can be made available to other users of the system).
The simplest way to create indicators in SharePoints to use a wizard and utilize one of the nearly thirty indicator templates. Thanks to that solution, we can create such indicators as e.g.: an increase as against the previous period complete with a visualisation of the status and the trend, the opening/closing balance, indicators which escalate the problem to a higher level of analysis, percentage share, etc.
Query building
Just like in the case of indicators, also queries to the database can be created with the use of wizards. Starting from the simplest ones – such as e.g. the value for the last three months, up to the more complex ones, e.g. the list of the towns in which the increase in sales to the sector of public administration as against the same period in the previous year has not been implemented according to the budget. Such a query can be saved as a new object in the database and made available to other users.
Central repository of reports
The prepared reports are published on a server in properly safeguarded report libraries. Access to reports and the analysis thereof is possible via a Web browser. Reports can also be published on pages of the corporate portal, or be a component of a system that supports management via Balanced Scorecard.
Monitoring Server
Functionality of that component of the SharePoint server allows to build the so-called Dashboards. Such intranet site can have the following elements: sets of indicators (Scorecards), visualizations from the analytics server, tables, graphs, maps, reports, etc. That module works perfectly well as an IT tool that supports management by the Balanced Scorecard or Management by Objectives.
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