Introducing PowerPivot

re: Introducing PowerPivot

Joseph Chirilov — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:54:46 GMT

Billy: PowerPivot works only within Excel. It can easily link to data in Access databases, however.

re: Introducing PowerPivot

Billy Gee — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:09:09 GMT

Will this be a feature on Access 2010 pivot tables, which I have not been as fond of as Excel's, as well - will I still be able to link into an Access database with this functionality?

re: Introducing PowerPivot

Joseph Chirilov — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:32:47 GMT

Part of the CTP/Beta process is to get feedback on how much richness users can add using the current feature set. We look forward to getting your detailed feedback after you’ve had a chance to use the product. Thanks.

re: Introducing PowerPivot

rick.lister — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:41:55 GMT

we seem to forget that multi dims are just symbolic representations of entities whether that is excel or access, or whtvr. It will always be how you describe those entities (and the planned software apps COTS ability to independantly address these description needs [and of course the manipulative needs] that will determine complexity and outcome) provided you trust in complexities to be able to deliver.

You can't get intelligently detailed answers if you don't brush up against the complexities. where the wild things are :)

re: Introducing PowerPivot

Colin Banfield — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:22:14 GMT

Ash, I'd like to congratulate the team on a job well done. It appears that I might be the one buying the beer when we meet!

A couple of observations:

1)On the issue of solving the problem of cubes being unable to anticipate all possible questions a priori, I don't see PowerPivot (or any other product for that matter) solving the problem completely. The only thing that the business user can do is work with the dimensions and measures in the data warehouse (or data mart). This means that the user is limited to creating aggregations and calculated measures based on these existing dimensions and measures - which might be sufficient in most cases. The point is that if an unanticipated dimension or measure isn't in the data warehouse, then it's back to IT to address the issue.

2) I've noticed that most of the interest for PowerPivot thus far (discussions on Connect) and virtually all of the independent blogs postings are from SSAS folks - even though PowerPivot isn't this group's primary target. It appears as though the SAAS experts have seen a level of value in PowerPivot beyond what Microsoft might have anticipated. I can see where v2 of PowerPivot could be headed.