One of the technologies available in SQL Server Analysis Services is data mining.  You can read lots more about it here.

We have just released a set of add-ins for Excel ("The Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Data Mining Add-ins for Microsoft Office 2007") that allow users to take advantage of SQL Server 2005 predictive analytics in Office Excel 2007.  The download includes two components for use with Excel 2007:

  • Table Analysis Tools for Excel: This add-in provides users with easy-to-use tasks that leverage SQL Server 2005 Data Mining to perform powerful analytics on your spreadsheet data.
  • Data Mining Client for Excel: This add-in allows users to work through the full data mining model development lifecycle within Excel 2007 using either your spreadsheet data or external data accessible through your SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services.

There is also a component for use in Office Visio 2007 that allows users to render and share mining models as annotatable Visio 2007 drawings.

You can find links to the install locations and associated whitepaper here.