Microsoft has announced a new product and new features
in its forthcoming Microsoft Office 12 software in a bid to make
business intelligence “more mainstream” and available on every
desktop.
The new product, Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager
2005, is a server-based business scorecarding application. It
extends the SQL Server platform so that employees throughout an
organisation can track key performance indicators using their own
personalised scorecards.
The software giant has also announced that Office 12 will see
business intelligence functions integrated into Excel and
SharePoint. The new version of Excel will let users connect
directly to enterprise data, making a persistent connection between
their own Excel spreadsheet and the data source.
New server-side Excel capabilities will also be introduced to
allow users to view spreadsheets on the server via a web browser or
to download them to individual desktops.
The new version of SharePoint will make it a portal for all the
business intelligence content and end-user capabilities in SQL
Server reporting services and Office 12. It will allow users to
build personalised dashboards, bringing together the data they need
from several sources.
Lewis Levin, corporate vice-president of Microsoft’s Office
business applications group, said, “With this new product and the
new Office features, Microsoft will make BI tools accessible to
more people and more mainstream within organisations.”
Business Scorecard Manager 2005 will be available from 1
November, at $5,000 (£2,830) for the server, with a client access
license of $175 per user. Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 version will
be launched on 7 November.