PowerView can now connect to multidimensional models

The cumulative update 4 for the SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 has now been released. This update enables PowerView to connect to Multidimensional models and also to have global filters across multiple views (pages) in a PowerView report. Please follow this link for more details http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlrsteamblog/archive/2013/05/31/power-view-for-multidimensional-models-released.aspx

Kerberos Configuration Manager for SQL Server

Anybody who has had to worry about implementing security in a SharePoint environment has at some point run into challenges with impersonating end users and passing their credentials all the way to the analysis services cube for authorization. The dreaded two hop challenges necessitated having to implement Kerberos authentication which has caused a lot of … Continue reading Kerberos Configuration Manager for SQL Server

Microsoft BI ranks highest in ability to execute by Gartner

Microsoft once again is ranked the highest in its ability to execute by Gartner in its magic quadrant for Business Intelligence.  The report is pretty long and boring, but if I were distill it down to a few salient points, I would choose the following: Companies see a dramatic improvement in BI capabilities going from … Continue reading Microsoft BI ranks highest in ability to execute by Gartner

SAP Hana vs Microsoft SQL Server, the war is on…

and the Germans are making the first move... I have written two posts about Hana vs. xVelocity (Part I and Part II) making the basic point that there is nothing truly visionary or revolutionary in SAP Hana from the technology perspective and that a customer can get all the benefits (or rather alleged benefits as … Continue reading SAP Hana vs Microsoft SQL Server, the war is on…

Forrester Releases “Self-Service Business Intelligence Platforms” report, Microsoft identified as leader

Well, a leader and not the leader, although Microsoft BI stack is definitely ranked very high by Forrester.  Please follow this link to read the report. This is probably a little bit of old news, since the report was release in June and updated in the middle of July, but I figured it be a … Continue reading Forrester Releases “Self-Service Business Intelligence Platforms” report, Microsoft identified as leader

SAP HANA versus Microsoft Business Intelligence and xVelocity, take two…

Not surprisingly, my original post generated huge traffic to my blog as well as a couple of good comments. I am sorry that it took me a while to respond, but now that it is Saturday and I am at Starbucks,I don't really have any excuse not to respond anymore… Before I jump into a … Continue reading SAP HANA versus Microsoft Business Intelligence and xVelocity, take two…

Using AlwaysOn to offload read-only workloads

Microsoft has posted a white paper that discusses how to physically partition your hardware in order to optimize read-write vs read only workloads on your transactional system. Why is this important? Well, there are certain ERP vendors who claim that any access to their data outside of what they explicitly support (or certify) compromises their solution … Continue reading Using AlwaysOn to offload read-only workloads

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Fast Track White Paper is now available

Microsoft has updated its excellent Fast Track ( Microsoft Data Warehouse reference architecture) white paper for latest versoin of SQL Server (2012).  Whether you decide to follow this architecture or not (and there are good reasons for and against it given your budget and objectives), you will find a wealth of great and useful information that will help you … Continue reading Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Fast Track White Paper is now available