Business Intelligence with Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides an infrastructure that makes it easy for decision-makers to access information anytime, anywhere. People can get up-to-date information where they work, collaborate, and make decisions, whether it's on the desktop or over the Web.

Microsoft Office Excel-based Business Intelligence

Excel Services, part of Office SharePoint Server 2007, extend the capabilities of Microsoft Office Excel 2007 by allowing broad sharing of spreadsheets, improved manageability and security and the ability to re-use spreadsheet models using a scalable server-based calculation service and interactive Web-based user interface. With Excel Services, you can:

•	Broaden the access and availability of spreadsheets by incorporating interactive spreadsheets into business intelligence portals, dashboards, and scorecards.
•	Secure and protect confidential information and maintain one version of the truth by locking down access at the server.

Quickly share Office Excel 2007 worksheets by saving them to SharePoint document libraries directly from Office Excel 2007. View a larger image.

•	Reduce development costs, and improve time to market by using Web services to access models and data contained in spreadsheets.
•	Use Data Connection Libraries to provide an easy way for your users to share, manage, and discover connections to external data repositories without requiring any knowledge of the technical details.

Office Excel 2007 spreadsheet displayed using Excel Services. View a larger image.

Dashboards and Report Center

Create rich, interactive business intelligence (BI) dashboards that assemble and display business information from disparate sources by using built in Web Parts. These Web Parts include dynamic key performance indicators (KPI), Office Excel 2007 spreadsheets, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services reports and a collection of business data connectivity Web Parts that can visualize information residing in back-end line-of-business applications.

Personalized dashboard displayed in a Report Center including the Excel Web Parts. View a larger image.

With the dashboard and reporting capabilities in Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can:

•	Manage reports, spreadsheets, and data connections consistently using the new Report Center—an out-of-the-box site template and document library optimized for report access and management including a report library, data connection library, and a business intelligence dashboard template.
•	Communicate goals and status to drive results using the new Web Part without writing code. The KPI Web Part can display KPI from Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services, Office Excel 2007 spreadsheets, SharePoint Lists, or manually entered data.
•	Easily access the business information you need by creating dynamic, personalized dashboards using integrated Filter Web Parts. Filters allow dashboards to be personalized by communicating shared parameters amongst Web Parts on a dashboard. The Filter Web Parts presents more relevant information to the user.

Business data integration and discovery

Seamlessly integrate external data into your applications using the Business Data Catalog (BDC), part of Office SharePoint Server 2007. The BDC simplifies the process of discovering and accessing data residing within backend line of business applications. Discover back-end, line- of- business applications. Discover back-end data quickly using SharePoint search and interact with data through a set of Business Data Web Parts.

With the BDC, you can:

•	Search your business data as easily as you search your other content repositories. Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides an integrated, Enterprise Search experience across your enterprise data ranging from file shares, Web sites, Microsoft Exchange Server, Lotus Notes and line-of-business applications.
•	Share business data using the Business data Web Parts that allow for viewing lists, entities, and related information retrieved through the BDC.
•	Use convenient links that appear beside business objects returned from the BDC to easily create actions without custom coding that open Web pages, display the user interfaces of line-of-business applications, launch Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 forms, and perform other common actions.

The following table outlines and compares the business intelligence features included in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise CAL. For the complete feature outline, please refer to the Office SharePoint Server edition comparison document.

KEY:	= Feature Included     = Improved in Office SharePoint Server 2007     = New in Office SharePoint Server 2007

Features	SharePoint Portal Server 2003	Office SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise CAL
Integrated, flexible spreadsheet publishing Office Excel 2007 provides an integrated publishing experience that lets information workers easily choose what they want to share with others and determine how others can interact with published spreadsheets.
Share, manage, and control spreadsheets Share business data broadly while maintaining control and helping to protect sensitive information. Provides access to spreadsheet data and analysis through server-calculated, interactive Office Excel spreadsheets from a Web browser. Use these spreadsheets to maintain and efficiently share one centralized version of the truth while helping to protect any sensitive or proprietary information embedded in documents, such as financial models, by limiting access to portions of the spreadsheet and auditing their usage.
Web-based business intelligence using Excel Services Excel Services empowers spreadsheet authors to easily and broadly share spreadsheets that use the new business intelligence functionality through the browser. Fully interactive, data-bound spreadsheets including charts, tables, and PivotTable views can be created as part of a portal, dashboard, or business scorecard, without requiring any development.
Data Connection Libraries Data Connection Libraries are centralized SharePoint document libraries that store Office Data Connections (ODC); ODCs describe connections to external data. Centralizing Office Data Connections makes it easier to share, manage, and discover data connections that can be used by any Microsoft Office program.
Business Data Catalog The Business Data Catalog (BDC) tightly integrates external data into the Office SharePoint Server 2007 user experience, providing access to external data residing within back end line-of-business applications, and enabling the display of and interaction with external data through a set of Business Data Web Parts.
Business Data Web Parts Use SharePoint Business Data Web Parts for viewing lists, entities, and related information retrieved through the Business Data Catalog.
Business data actions With no custom coding, easily create actions that open Web pages, display the user interfaces of line-of-business applications, launch InfoPath forms, and perform other common tasks. Use the convenient links that appear beside business objects returned from the Business Data Catalog.
Integrated business intelligence dashboards Create rich, interactive business intelligence dashboards that assemble and display business information from disparate sources by using built-in Web parts such as dynamic KPIs, Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services reports, or a collection of business data connectivity Web Parts that can visualize information residing in back end line-of-business applications.
Report Center An out-of-the-box site optimized for report access and management, including a report library, data connection library, and a dashboard template. These sites, hosted by the new Report Center, provide consistent management of reports, spreadsheets, and data connections.
Key performance indicators KPIs communicate goals and status to drive results. Using the KPI Web Part, a user can create a KPI list within a Web Part page, without writing code. The KPI Web Part can display KPIs from Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Excel spreadsheets, SharePoint lists, or manually entered data.
Filter Web Parts Filters enable dashboards to be personalized by communicating shared parameters among Web Parts on a dashboard. The parameters passed can be automatically applied based on user profiles, SharePoint lists, the BDC, manually entered information, and so forth.