Apparently based on customer feedback, Microsoft has decided to consolidate Microsoft Office PerformancePoint® Server scorecard, dashboard, and analytical capabilities into Office SharePoint Server Enterprise as PerformancePoint Services. This consolidation will enable BI to deliver capabilities via SharePoint.

Key Information
· New service opportunities. With Office SharePoint Server and SQL Server deployed to more than 100 million people worldwide, BI capabilities in Microsoft platform products can increase opportunities for you to deliver BI to more people and to help customers make better, faster, more relevant decisions. With the innovation announced around self-service analysis in the upcoming SQL Server release, code-named Kilimanjaro, you can take advantage of a truly unified platform and create richer information management solutions that can lower customers’ total cost of ownership and speed return on investment.

· Planning, budgeting, and forecasting. Office PerformancePoint Server SP3 will be the final release of the Planning module. Through an extensive review, Microsoft concluded that planning is not critical to driving broad BI deployment, but can be better served through tight alignment with customer enterprise resource planning or general ledger investments, such as those within Microsoft Dynamics® business management software. You can successfully support customers by integrating specialized applications into broader Microsoft technology platforms.

· Certifications remain valid. The Microsoft Partner Program Business Intelligence competency will remain intact, but will decrease the focus on financial planning, budget, and consolidation in the Performance Management specialization; the competency focus on scorecards, dashboards, and analytics will increase. Microsoft will honor all current certifications already attained by partners in these areas.

· What action should you take? Microsoft has communicated its BI strategy directly to existing Office PerformancePoint Server customers. You’ll also want to communicate this change directly to your customers. As always, Microsoft will support you and our mutual customers through this transition period.