Business Intelligence in Office 12
I read this post from David Gainer with interest, particularly the comments. I guess you've got to have thick skin if you work for Microsoft. While I'm very excited about the expanded BI capabilities of Excel, not many of the initial people who commented seemed to share my excitement. One comment from Harlan Grove began with
“The SQL Server Analytical Services functions would necessarily be irrelevant to anyone working for a company that uses databases other than SQL Server.”
This comment is only partially true. No offense to Harlan, but a more precise choice of words would have made this sentence more credible. In particular, if he said “...for a company that uses OLAP products other than Analysis Services.” I would totally agree with him. As his comment reads though, I'm not sure if he doesn't understand what Analysis Services does or if he just chose bad wording. To clarify, Analysis Services is a stand-alone application that ships in the box with SQL Server Standard or SQL Server Enterprise. Analysis Services can use data from any relational data source, not just SQL Server.
My hunch is that Harlan is like many folks I talk to that understand traditional database products but have only casual knowledge or no knowledge of what an OLAP product does or the benefits it has to offer. Many times I hear people lump OLAP products (apples) in the same pile as relational databases (oranges). You simply won't understand the value and power of an OLAP product if you try and view it through relational lenses.
The fact is that OLAP is a natural compliment to many of the scenarios that spreadsheets are used for. I'm ecstatic to be able to deliver solutions to clients using “stock” off the shelf software that would cost many multiples more if they had to go out and buy solutions from Hyperion or other enterprise BI vendors. For companies that have or are planning on deploying Analysis Services, the BI investment that Microsoft is making in Office 12 is going to be a windfall. I, for one, am reading David's posts with great enthusiasm.