Re: Client tools for SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services - Where are they?

and we should see Office 12 (which is now in alpha) about when?

dlr
"Dave Wickert [MSFT]" <dwickert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OuVlwBYvFHA.460@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> WOW.
> A comment: "Microsoft also released a Cube add-in for Excel, which I
thought
> was
> very good, but no mention of a "new and improved" version for SQL 2005
> during any of the webcasts I've seen..."
>
> That is because it is coming in Office 12. All of the cool new Office 12
> work is based on the concepts and data manipulation techniques introduced
> with the "add-in". Keep a lookout for coming Office 12 info. Office 12
will
> be by far our most complete OLAP client. There were several sessions at
PDC
> last week and there will be several in the upcoming SQL PASS conference
next
> week in Dallas. I think you will like what you see.
> --
> Dave Wickert [MSFT]
> dwickert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Program Manager
> BI Systems Team
> SQL BI Product Unit (Analysis Services)
> --
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
>
>
> "KoryS" <kskistad@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1126934316.019583.107750@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >I have watched webcast after webcast about SQL Server 2005 Business
> > Intelligence, and learned all about the UDM, reporting, architecture,
> > Project REAL, Integration Services, cubes, etc. I have read all of the
> > whitepapers I have found, and have even installed June CTP and played
> > around with it.
> >
> > But I have a sinking feeling that something has been overlooked...
> > Client tools! Microsoft barely mentions how users will view and
> > analyze their data, reaping all of the benefits of five years of hard
> > work to create a better OLAP product that is more robust and scalable.
> >
> > Sure, Proclarity and Panorama are busily trying to put the finishing
> > touches on their new clients, as well as many other Microsoft Partners
> > in the OLAP space. But what about Microsoft? To date they have tried
> > their hand at clients (Data Analyzer, anyone?) which they had to
> > acquire, but no one really cared. They also tried the BI Portal, which
> > first showed up as an ASP.NET application, and then as a
> > SharePoint-integrated solution. I played with that one but it felt
> > inhibited in SharePoint.
> >
> > Then there is Excel. Everyones favorite client tool. Unfortunately,
> > Microsoft thought connectivity through their PivotTables would be a big
> > draw, but wasn't because it didn't behave the way it should with OLAP
> > cubes, and users used to conventional PT behavior were turned-off by
> > the lack of similar functionality (double-click drill-through was
> > absent, and developers had to custom build add-ins to support this)
> > Visual totals were messed up in earlier versions of excel, and you
> > couldn't break hierarchies either on dimensions.
> >
> > Microsoft also released a Cube add-in for Excel, which I thought was
> > very good, but no mention of a "new and improved" version for SQL 2005
> > during any of the webcasts I've seen...
> >
> > Then there is the OWC PivotList control. That's my favorite
> > (honestly). I can do drillthrough (with help from the toolpack) as
> > well as break hierarchies, and even use MDX directly. It's
> > programmable, and completely customizable and works great with the
> > PivotChart control. The downside to this control, I've found, is it
> > lacks a "wizard" which is nice if you want to build your design first,
> > then request the data to be retrieved. Even with < 15 second delays
> > between drag-drop operations, users became tired of waiting while they
> > laid out their views. And run-away queries? No cancel button, so you
> > had to kill the application. Also, measures can only be added to the
> > data area (makes sense, mostly). But sometimes (oftentimes for my
> > users) users want to group together measures first, then dimensions
> > (e.g. Sales Amt for each product across columns, then Sales Cost for
> > each product across columns. OWC and PivotTables can only display Each
> > product, with alternating Sales Amt and Sales Cost)
> >
> > With Office 12 a year away, and a year after SQL Server 2005 is
> > released, it's unlikely we'll see an improved Excel 2003 PivotTable
> > interface or updated OWC components to take advantage of SQL2005 AS.
> > Our best bet is the Excel Add-in being updated.
> >
> > On another note- now that SSRS, SSNS, SSAS, and SSIS are all bundled
> > together, and it has taken Microsoft 5 years to release a new version
> > of SQL Server, what does that mean for incremental updates to those
> > products? Will significant changes have to be made to all four
> > products, as well as the relation database, to justify releasing a new
> > product? Or will MS add enhancements through Service Releases along
> > the way? One example is the Dundas Charts in Reporting Services. In
> > 2005, I still don't see a secondary Y Axis. Every charting tool I know
> > of supports this, including Dundas Charts (MS doesn't implement it
> > though). Will I have to wait 5 more years to get a secondary Y axis on
> > my chart? How do I explain to my users I have to revert back to Access
> > 97 to get that functionality?
> >
> > The reality of it is that current business has many obstacles to
> > overcome to successfully adobt Business Intelligence solutions. Many
> > companies don't have a Data Warehouse, and businesses don't want to
> > wait forever to build one. Microsoft hopes that by providing a product
> > with rich features on the back-end that companies will scamble to buy
> > it, and implement it, pay tons of money (not necessarily to MS, but for
> > hardware, multiple environments for devl, test, production, etc.) and
> > to find that it still costs more to buy the client tools which have
> > more features than anyone would care to understand or use.
> >
> > Don't get me wrong, I owe my career to Microsoft. But it just feels to
> > me like Business Intelligence is the one area that it chose to break
> > it's business model of providing end-to-end solutions by leaning too
> > heavily on it's partner relationships to complete the final piece of
> > the puzzle. I know there are a ton of skilled developers at MS that
> > could build a BI client tool that would blow Proclarity or Panorama out
> > of the water (OWC is waaay more user friendly and 90% of the value
> > (notice I didn't say "features") that Proclarity or Panorama provides)
> >
> > In case anyone from Microsoft is reading this, I have a few
> > suggestions: Acquire Panorama or Proclarity, or both. Enhance Excel
> > to allow more type of worksheets objects, that include a WebPage sheet
> > to display browser-based content (like Reporting Services reports, or
> > Infopath forms, or Sharepoint), another sheet object that looks similar
> > to an Excel sheet, only provides an MDX query-building interface and
> > natively supports Analysis Services full features. Another worksheet
> > object for Data Mining visualizations. Drop support for Microsoft
> > Query- it sucks. Include more Visual Studio concepts, like source-code
> > integration, and shared datasources per workbook. Have a worksheet
> > object for KPIs. Host Excel on a server. Separate the data, formulas,
> > and presentation layers using XML. Worksheet data and metadata can be
> > stored in SQL Server repository. Spreadsheet execution can be
> > server-side.
> > You can add a worksheet object for each of the office applications,
> > such as Word, Powerpoint and Mapoint (you can leave Outlook out.)
> >
> > Now users will be able to see a view of their business, including
> > flow-charts, visio-diagrams, documentation, KPI's, spreadsheet
> > analysis, HTML reports, data mining visualizations, maps, etc. all
> > from one interface, Excel. No other member of the office family can be
> > enhanced to include this same level of content like Excel can. And you
> > wouldn't be replacing the other office apps, because Excel would only
> > be a presentation host (similar to OLE, but far better integrated).
> >
> > Ok, I'll step off my soapbox now.
> >
>
>


.

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