
Understanding SharePoint for
Business Intelligence
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) is a highly successful tool that at its most basic
level is a collaboration tool used for sharing ideas, documents, and business solutions. Many
companies use SharePoint to cut the costs of developing an expensive internal intranet infra-
structure, because of the many offerings it has and the fact that it is highly customizable. In
this section of the book you will specifically learn how Business Intelligence and SharePoint
work together to place the final bow on top of the present you have been wrapping in all the
previous sections. You have learned how to create the back end of your BI solution using
Integration Services and Analysis Services; now it is time to build the client-facing tool that
will really get your end users to say, “Wow!”
The SharePoint client interface is a web interface that can easily be accessed through a vari-
ety of web browsers. In fact, with the SharePoint 2010 web browser, compatibility has been
expanded. When building a BI solution in SharePoint you will start by creating sites that
are essentially ASP.NET web applications. Any site content data is stored in a SQL Server
database that is created upon installation of SharePoint. When creating sites, you will find
an assortment of templates including the Business Intelligence Center template, shown in
Figure 35-1, ...