If you have paid any attention to Microsoft in the BI space in the past few months you have likely heard a lot about PerformancePoint. Based on requests from customers and partners, Microsoft will make available the source code and project files derived from the PerformancePoint Server 2007 Planning module. This packaged source code will be called the Financial Planning Accelerator (FPA). The source code will be made available on a no-cost, individual license agreement and can be used to support or change PerformancePoint Server Planning functionality.
What does this mean for you?
This is a great opportunity for customers and partners interested in using the planning source code to extend existing PPS planning applications or look at building new planning applications. From working with customers in the planning space over the past 3-4 years we have seen a wide scope of use cases for the planning component of PPS, including those that go beyond traditional aspects of financial planning and budgeting and into areas of supply chain performance, human resources, and sales forecasting. By making the code available we are hope to provide our customers and partners the flexibility to develop planning solutions that make sense for their organizations.
How does the licensing work?
Here are some additional licensing details; Object code files can be distributed to end-users with Microsoft SharePoint Server Enterprise Client Access Licenses (E-CAL). End-user customers are required to have Office SharePoint 2007 E-CAL or the “E-CAL Suite.” Any binaries created from the source files become company’s derivative works and are not supported by Microsoft.
How can you get the Financial Planning Accelerator?
To obtain access to the Financial Planning Accelerator a license agreement between Microsoft and the customer or partner is required. After that agreement is in place, download instructions will be made available. Please e-mail fpasupp@microsoft.com to request the agreement.
For more background on the recent changes to PerformancePoint and how SharePoint customers can now take advantage of the PerformancePoint dashboard and scorecard capabilities today, check out this page.
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