Microsoft has announced the immediate availability for download of the first community technology preview (CTP) for Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007. Microsoft's integrated performance management application is scheduled for general availability in mid-2007. Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 is designed to centralize next-generation monitoring, analytics and planning features on a single performance management application.

"We continue to invest in our business intelligence solution to bridge the gap between people and the information needed to drive business success," said Chris Capossela, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Division. "Today's milestone brings us one step closer to our goal of enabling decision support and superior performance management across the enterprise."

The Redmond Company has revealed that it plans to release no less than three or four CTPs prior to the general availability of the product in the summer of 2007. CTP 1 will conjugate BizSharp and Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager Server 2005. Additionally, Microsoft has disclosed details about CTP 2 that will bundle together the functionality of CTP 1 and ProClarity 6.2.

"Visibility of performance information is critical to decision support, but in many organizations much of this information is accessible by finance and not operations," said Kathleen Wilhide, research director at IDC. "Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 delivers integrated performance management information into the desktop tools that both finance and operations workers use every day, and with an attractive per-user price point, has the potential to enable truly pervasive performance management."