You go through all the effort of loading your Staging database and you click on the “Load this model from Staging Area”.  Then you check your application database and there is nothing there.  You check your staging database and there no errors (BizSystemFlag = 0). So what’s the problem?  There are no errors in the database (or in the event log). You have to update the BizSystemFlag = 200.  Now when you load the model from the staging area it will actually move the data.

In the Performance Point Server 2007 Dashboard Designer, you create a data source using either a standard connection or with a connection string.  I use the connection string option myself, but I never remember the syntax of the connection string (to a AS cube). So here how’s I get the connection string: Open excel (I use 2007) Go to the data tab From Other sources From Analysis Services Put in your server name (I leave the default for Log on credentials)  Choose next Then choose what cube you want (if you have more than one cube)  Click Next Click Finish (if...

Here is an excerpt from the MS white paper on deployment of Performance Point Server 2007 on the server roles of PerformancePoint. Here is the link to the document (which is a must read) Deployment Guide for PerformancePoint Server 2007 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=106633)   Using Planning Server roles The security model for Planning Server is based on roles. Users are assigned to roles, and their permission levels in the Planning Server system are dictated by the roles to which they belong. The two types of roles are administrative roles and business roles. Planning Server administrative roles Planning Server includes four predefined administrative roles, which support the separation of...

So if you want to make sure your clients can use the Excel add-in. Here are the prerequisites for the add-in (from the Deploying PerformancePoint white paper). All client computers require the following software before PerformancePoint Add-in for Excel can be installed: · Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack 2, or Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 · Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Service Pack 1 or Office Excel 2007 · Office Excel 2003 Primary Interop Assembly (.NET Programmability Support) · The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0.50727.42 or later. Note: To enable Export to Excel functionality or Export to PowerPoint functionality in Microsoft...

Here are the hardware prereq’s for Performance Point Server 2007. Planning Server hardware prerequisites The following table lists the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for clients and servers used by PerformancePoint Planning Server. Hardware requirements ...

So I have been doing a PPS proof of concept and I have created cycles (I am not going to explain what a cycle is) that I no longer want (or need).  So I wanted to delete some cycles and found it not easy to figure out. So here are the short instructions: In the Workspace Browser, click Process Management, then select the cycle you want to delete.  In the cycle tasks pane, click Available Actions in the Select Action list, then select Close.  Then repeat and select Purge from the Select Action list.  After you click ok all the assignments...

When I tried connecting to my cube from Dashboard Designer, I got the wonderful error “The PerformancePoint Server could not connect to the specified data source. Verify that either the current user or application pool user has Read permissions to the the data source, depending on your security configuration.  Also verifty that all required connection information is provided and correct.” This was caused by the application pool PPSMonitoringWebService running as the wrong account.  No matter what else you do you have to make sure that account has permissions to your database.

If you are trying to create a form (allowing for data entry) with the PPS excel add-in, you must have a time member in the data period set for the cycle.  If you don’t, no data entry will be allowed.  So this means you have to have a time member for any form template you are creating.

So I found out a few tips about the excel add-in for Performance Point Server 2007. Item 1, do NOT change a form template if you have a cycle created using that form template.  You can not guarantee that users will get the correct version of the form template. Item 2, cache not clearing.  If you are sure you are not getting the latest form template when you open an assignment you can open the performance point excel add-in and click the clear cache button.  That may not always work.  To get around that problem you can browse to the folder...

So you created an excel form on the Performance Point tab and you realized that put your matrix in the wrong cell (defaults to the cell you have clicked when click the add new matrix button).  How can you fix it (without deleting the matrix and starting over)? You can move the matrix by changing it’s location. Go to Reports –> Report properties    From there expand the workbook and sheet and click on the matrix name. Scroll down to the bottom and the second to last property is the location. You can change that to move the matrix to what ever...