When planning a deployment of PerformancePoint Monitoring & Analytics (PPS M&A), an often overlooked component in the business solution is the ProClarity Analytics Server (PAS) application layer.
PAS is sometimes not deployed by customers, and their analysts aren't trained in the effective use of these analytical tools. In my view, this is often a mistake. Analytics has at least two constituencies--and all need to be considered when planning a successful BI deployment.
A sales specialist I have a great deal of respect for, Mac Hussey, once explained it this way...this isn't a direct quote but my interpretation of his ideas: PerformancePoint server M&A's native scorecards, analytic grids & views cover "Little a" (lightweight analytics), while PAS covers "Big A" (heavy analytics).
Two A's...so what's the difference? "Little a" is flashy, cool and as easy to use as a web page--often requiring no training beyond a quick overview. In most industrial and service industries, perhaps 85% of BI dashboard users are executives, managers and line of business users. These users don't use analytics in their primary job function, but use analytics to support their "real" jobs.
Even in the long-run, they may only want/need "Little a". If your organization fits this mold, it may seem that reaping the low-hanging fruit using "Little a" is really where all the value lies--and that's certainly true at first. Eventually, though, the "Little a" users want to know root causes, and analysts really need to dig and develop further insights. That's when "Big A" is needed (ProClarity Analytics).
"Little a" is certainly a "low hanging fruit picker" and brings in quick ROI in for any BI dashboard deployment. Yet time spent deploying and training on "Big A" is where the game-changing ROI comes from over the mid/long-term. Currently this means deploying an additional application (PAS) and training end-users.
Eventually I'm sure we'll see ProClarity Analytics fully integrated into PerformancePoint, and the "ProClarity" product brand will be just a fond memory. When that happens, every user will have access to both the "Big a" and "Little a", even if--as with Excel's features--they only know how to use the most common analytical capabilities offered by the product. Until then, Microsoft BI practitioners who address the needs of users in the "here and now" will need to continue to pay close attention to the spectrum of user needs when planning BI deployments.