Easier BI in SharePoint 2007

At KMA, we have been looking closely at the new features of SharePoint 2007.  One feature, available only in MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) 2007, makes building dashboards much easier.   This feature is Excel Web Services.

Microsoft has built a version of Excel that runs on a server and integrates tightly with SharePoint.  It has many features, but its dashboard development capability is of most interest to me.  Here's why:

• Business analysts, without the assistance of developers or DBAs, can create dashboard displays in Excel 2007.  These displays can use some of the new features of Excel 2007, like stoplight icons that are based on data values.  The displays can be pivot tables, charts, named ranges or worksheets.
• These analysts can then publish this display by uploading it to a SharePoint document library.  The display will then be shown in a web part on a dashboard web page.  The analyst, with a little SharePoint training, can build or modify these dashboard pages.
• The spreadsheets and the web parts can be linked to data in a transaction data base or an Analysis Services cube.  When new data comes in, the dashboard will be automatically updated.
• You can add a "filter web part" to a dashboard page.  This web part can be used to control some or all the displays on the page.  You can use this feature to build a key customer page.  Select the customer in the filter web part and all the charts and tables will display information for that customer only.
• You can use SharePoint's security model to limit access to dashboards or even specific displays.

Excel Web Services will allow IT departments to build dashboards much more easily.  You will still need a data base analyst to build a data mart and a set of cubes to provide the raw material for the dashboard.  You will also need to train your dashboard builders, typically marketing or financial analysts, in SharePoint and in the new features in Excel 2007.  Once you do this, you're analysts can build and maintain dashboards without much intervention from IT.

I have been working with organizations for over 10 years, helping them design and build dashboards.  The main problem that I have faced is the high cost to build and maintain the dashboard.  Excel Web Services and the other tools in in Office 2007 will make this task significantly easier.