Adios PPS

The big BI news this month is that PerformancePoint (that was launched with much back-slapping) is being sunset. The dashboarding and scorecarding features will be integrated with Microsoft Office Sharepoint (MOSS), but the planning module is effectively being "retired".
You can view the original announcement here or read about Cidi Howson's (of the BI scorecard fame) view here.

The impact of this decision by Microsoft is split down the middle. Supporters say that this could help reduce BI costs and help it reach more end consumers. The ABM (anyone but MS) camp insists that Microsoft has given up on the Performance Management battle all together. It is a little bit of both, I guess. It is undeniable that Performance Management is the big wave in BI currently and it shows no sign of ebbing away any time soon. Planning and forecasting are key components of the PM space and by moving away from it (or by integrating this with MS ERP), Microsoft is essentially asking us to us another tool for PM (if you need to). Considering that most of the spread of MS BI is in the SMB sector, I do not expect it to have an impact on the market share in the short-term. However, if MS wants to be a market leader in the BI space, Performance Management is not something that it can ignore for much longer.

One of my colleagues also referred me to this blog. It is a good read!