May I have More Office BI Tools Please?
I was really excited when I saw the increased Analysis Services specific functionality in Excel XP versus Excel 2000. Given all of the improvements made, I had high hopes for similar advances in Excel 2003. Unfortunately the PivotTable functionality was left unimproved over Excel XP.
Yeah, I know - what about the Excel Add-in for SQL Server Analysis Services? Again, I was very excited when I heard about this (I heard that it would be similar to the Hyperion Essbase Excel Add-in), but disappointed once I saw it. Although I have warmed to it since my initial disappointment, it is not as powerful as I would prefer. At least the price is right!
The Scorecard accelerator is nice, but isn't quite there yet. Data Analyzer missed the mark. Office Web Components are a bit flaky for serious BI use. Excel PivotTables are convenient but very limiting.
In short, it seems as though Microsoft has great potential to have an excellent BI platform with Analysis Services and Office but they're blowing it by neglecting the obvious integration opportunities. Well, blowing it is rather unfair considering the market share they've achieved with Analysis Services. Still - it seems to me that so much more could be done. Integrated Innovation comes to mind.
There is another explanation to all of this - maybe I'm the only one who desires such a thing and most people are happy or purchase tools from other vendors. Anyway - what I really want is something that is much more like Hyperion's Essbase Add-in for Excel. A robust, comprehensive tool that lives in Excel would be great! After all, deliver information using another tool and 9 out of 10 corporate analysts will copy/paste it into Excel.