From Microsoft

Jul 19, 2010 09:01 GMT  ·  By

A new offering from Microsoft is designed to simplify the process associated with creating dynamic PivotViewer Collections leveraging Business Intelligence data, on top of SharePoint Server 2010. Customers can now get a taste of PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services by downloading the first Community Technology Preview release, which is available via the Microsoft Download Center. Developed by Cristian Petculescu, a Principal Architect of the Analysis Services group within the Microsoft SQL Server division, PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services is offered as a concept project, with no support.

“It allows you to easily create stunning visualizations on top of your BI data - and these visualizations are fully dynamic: you decide at runtime which subset of data you should see, it shows the actual live numbers, and you decide how much (meta)data you associate with each card. Also, all of the cards are generated by the service, so it is very convenient. Of course it comes with sample data, and a tutorial,” Petculescu explained.

Of course, Petculescu has not stopped at simply building PivotViewer Extension for RS. He also put together a tutorial set up to allow users to get started (the first video embedded below). At the same time, the second video at the bottom of the screen features Donald Farmer, principal program manager of the SQL Server Business Intelligence management team, demoing the project.

It is important to underline that PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services originated in Microsoft Live Labs’ Pivot. The integration into SharePoint is done by embedding the PivotViewer Silverlight control. PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services is designed to work only with SharePoint 2010 and SQL Server PowerPivot for SharePoint.

“You can interactively explore and analyze your Business Intelligence data in a very visual and dynamic manner, using a SharePoint web part that embeds the PivotViewer Silverlight control. Instantly generate a PivotViewer application for SharePoint on top of your BI data, using the tools provided. Go beyond standard limitations of the PivotViewer control and define collections that span large numbers of items and use the provided WCF service for SharePoint 2010 in order to serve these collections in a scalable and high performing manner,” Microsoft informed.

PivotViewer Extension for Reporting Services CTP1 is available for download here.

Microsoft Silverlight PivotViewer is available for download here.

Microsoft Live Labs Pivot is available for download here.

Office SharePoint Server 2010 RTM is available for download here.

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